Apology
by FrictionX42
Summary: Ranma finally gets the guts to apologize to Akane for the wedding, and it turns out far better than he expects it to! To read the prelude which stands well enough on its own so it's posted seperately read storyid 5643188 for it. Fixed the rating: Now T.
1. Chapter 1

ALL CHARACTERS AND PLACES BELONG TO THE GODDESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI. ANYONE VYING FOR CREDIT FOR THESE THINGS BESIDES HER WILL BE ATTACKED BY HORDES OF RABID WEASELS, IN AN EFFORT TO SAVE MYSELF FROM SUCH A HORRID FATE, I IMPLORE YOU NOT TO SEND ME ANY MONEYS OR OTHER PAYMENT IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS STORY OR ANY OTHER I MAY WRITE. AND DO NOT WRITE STORIES INVOLVING CHARACTERS THAT YOU DID NOT CREATE AND THEN TAKE CREDIT FOR THEM, BECAUSE I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A GOOD EXCUSE TO HAVE A HORDE OF RABID WEASELS AROUND…

This is my first attempt at a WAFF fic, (Warm And Fuzzy Feeling) so please go easy on the C&C…I'm kind of a sensitive sort of guy.

This is an apology to all my readers out there for Everything Goes Martial Arts. I realized that it went pretty far out there, and most people probably don't like the way I picked on Akane or Ukyou, or somebody. You can't please everybody, but I at least want to show that I'm open to viable alternatives and that I can see more than one possible bride for Ranma. So, without further ado:

Apology

By frictionx42

_I'm sorry, Akane_. It would be so easy to say, and yet it was one of the hardest things he had ever considered saying. Just three little words to say and he was terrified. _At least, _he mused, _It's not __**those**__ three little words. I'm not ready to say __**those**_ _words to you… yet._

Ranma was pacing his room impatiently at 2:48 in the morning as he tried to determine what to do. His mixed feelings for Akane were causing problems in his concentration, however, and as time passed, he became more and more bewildered. The inky blackness of the sky outside his window grew more and more eerie as he contemplated what to do.

After pacing his room for what seemed to be the thousandth time, finally his mind screamed at him. _Ranma, just go over there and apologize for everything that happened at the wedding! You __**know**__ she's blaming it all on you, so you may as well go over there and tell her you're sorry. Let everything else work its way from there._

Ranma sighed, knowing that it was right, he didn't have much choice and he had better just go over to her room and-he was already there. He had walked to her room without realizing it. _Well, I guess since I'm here anyhow…_ * KNOCK KNOCK. * _Oh god, please don't be mad, Akane, please don't hit me, I'm just trying to-_

"Yes?" Her voice sounded like she had been crying, and he could hear it catch in her throat as she spoke. "Who is it?" Ranma couldn't help but appreciate the rich tone her voice had to it, even though it sounded a little hoarse from hours of weeping.

_Wow, she even sounds cute when she's been cryin'. _"It's Ranma. Can I come in for a moment?" He was so nervous he could barely get the words out.

The surprise in her voice was unmistakable, even hidden behind the anger that was beginning to boil up in her voice. "Ranma, do you realize that it is almost three in the morning? I was- I was sleeping. What do you want?" For a moment, it appeared that she was about to break out of her fragile facade, but then she went back to her usual violent demeanor. She opened the door to her room slowly, and in a way that only Akane can manage, menacingly.

"Why are you waking me up so early? Are you trying to make me angry?"

He flinched momentarily, knowing what raising her anger would mean, and he did not want to risk that. Not noticing his reaction, Akane continued. "Look, I **might** be willing to overlook this and pretend it never happened. Let's just go back to sleep."

_Well, if I don't do it now, I'll probably never get another chance. Jeez, how'd it get so late? I couldn't have been up this whole time. Whoops, she's getting angry again, I'd better do what I came here to do._ The words came much easier than he had expected them to, without any stuttering: "Akane, I'm sorry." He bowed deeply as he said it to show her that he truly meant it, and her eyes grew wide with amazement. _Wow, that was easier than I thought…_ Ranma straightened up, still wondering when Akane would react, say something, or do something. Whatever her reaction, Ranma hoped it wouldn't be violent.

"Ranma, are you sleepwalking again? Are you feeling all right? I could have sworn I just heard you apologize."

Akane seemed to be in her usual belligerent state, and Ranma couldn't resist, the unthinking response began making its way out of his mouth when he clamped down on it.

"Of course I came up here to apologize, stupid! What do you think – Wait, Akane, I wanted to apologize to you for everything that happened today - uh, yesterday. I wanted to say I'm sorry for ruining your wedding."

Akane stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what she was witnessing. She seemed in shock, barely able to comprehend the words that he spoke, but she regained control quickly.

"I- I uh, quit standing out there, Ranma. Come in here so we can talk." The amazement was obvious in her voice as she invited him in.

_Oh, my god, I'm going into her room! What'll I do? What'll I say?_ Ranma couldn't come up with a single thing to say, much less do. Akane and Ranma stood in her bedroom, eying each other. Ranma wracked his mind for something to say to her that she wouldn't hit him. "Akane, listen. The two of us have been engaged for quite some time now, and I know we've been fighting it, but lately I've been thinking that maybe the two of us should- should… kinda, you know, try to make up and see what we can do if we don't fight. I'm sorry I haven't come up here to say this to you before."

"Ranma, what's going on with you tonight? You seem really different." Akane could not mask the amazement in her face as she spoke to him.

"I've had a lot of time to think about things, and I realized that I really have been a jerk in the past, and that the time for things like that has long since past and it's time to try something different. If I had lost you at Jusendou…" Ranma's voice cracked. "then I would, I mean, I'd have nobody around to, who would I-"

Suddenly, Ranma broke down. Having already opened up slightly, the rest of the many things Ranma had been holding back flooded out to Akane, his feelings, his sorrows, and lots and lots of apologies.

She seemed surprised at first at this sudden outburst, but Akane quickly realized that he was really letting go and opening up to her.

"…I'm sorry I always make fun of your skills." He was almost to the point of babbling incoherently. "And I'm sorry I make fun of your cooking, and your looks and the way you act and I don't really mean half of what I say, it just comes out every time we get in a fight and-"

Akane cut him off by suddenly clutching at his chest, saying "Ranma, stop. It's not just you who needs to apologize. I'm sorry for all of those things too. I never let you say anything," She looked up at him and her eyes locked onto his as she continued, "I always hit you… Ranma, I'm-"

She felt his lips suddenly pressing against hers, and he was kissing her. It was a passionate, strong, deep kiss that made up for Ranma's inexperience with the feeling he put into it. Akane struggled for a second before she realized what was happening, and then as she felt Ranma's strong arms surround her she returned his embrace, holding him tightly to her as though she would never let go. The two stayed like that for what seemed like hours, time meaningless as the sheer fervor of their suppressed love for each other was finally let loose.

The two broke after a time, and stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Ranma finally spoke.

"Wow. If I'd have known you were gonna be like that, I woulda apologized a lot sooner!"

Akane giggled softly, then looked worried for a moment. "Ranma, I can't believe what this means. I guess now it's a lot more than just some stupid decision our parents made… what are we going to tell people?"

She looked up at Ranma, who returned her gaze with a worried expression. "Oh yeah. What are we going to do? If Shampoo or Ukyou finds out, they'll probably try to kill you or something… hey, I know. Let's just not say anything! That way, we can do this on our own time, in our own way."

Akane smiled at him. "Wow, that's the second smart idea you've had today."

"What was the first?" Ranma asked, confused.

She looked up at him, her eyes glimmering sweetly in the moonlight streaming through her window. "Kissing me, you pervert. Now do it again."

"Uncute Tomboy." He replied automatically, but even as Ranma approached her he couldn't help but notice that she really **was** cute. _I'm sorry I never saw it before;_ he apologized again, this time to no one at all.

Next up: The Morning After


	2. Chapter 2

THESE ARE NOT MY CHARACTERS, THIS IS NOT MY IDEA, THIS IS MERELY ME (Frictionx42) WISHING THAT I COULD WRITE SOMETHING AS CREATIVE AS RANMA ½ BUT, BEING UNABLE TO COME UP WITH CHARACTERS OR AN ORIGINAL PLOTLINE OF MY OWN, I'M DOING A FICTIONAL WORK SPRINGBOARDING OFF OF THE CREATIVE TALENTS OF OTHERS SUCH AS TAKAHASHI-SAMA, WHO IS THE OWNER AND CREATOR OF THIS SHOW. I ONLY WISH I COULD DO IT JUSTICE.

Apology

Chapter 2: The Morning After

A Ranma ½ fanfiction

By Frictionx42

Ranma awoke earlier than normal. There was a strange buzzing noise that he was unfamiliar with. It bothered him a lot, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. More asleep than awake, he inquired groggily,

"Hey Pop, what's with that buzzing sound? It's really gettin' on my nerves."

"Ranma, quick wake up! That's my alarm! We fell asleep in here last night after we… kissed."

_ Why'm I hearing Akane's voice? It's Sunday, she doesn't need to wake me up today. Waitaminit, did I leave Akane's room last night? Oh boy_… Ranma's mind finally registered what was wrong: this wasn't his room. He opened his eyes to light streaming in the window and realized that he was, in fact, in Akane's room. He glanced down and saw something that he had previously only dreamed about in the dreams that he had never told to anyone: Akane, lying in his arms, snuggled up to him as tight as could be. At first, he felt a little uncomfortable about it, but a second later, Akane moved slightly and then everything felt all right again. She reached up and turned her alarm off, then returned her arms to clutch at Ranma tightly. Ranma wondered why it didn't feel strange sleeping next to someone so closely, since he wasn't used to doing so. It just felt so **right**, being with Akane like this, and he didn't want it to ever stop. The two lay there for a few more minutes, enjoying the closeness that they felt to each other. Staring deeply into each other's eyes, the two lost themselves in time, oblivious to the outside world. Finally, it was a very flushed Akane that broke the silence.

"Umm, Ranma, maybe we should, uh, get up before you get much more excited."

Ranma inwardly cursed. Sometimes it was just so much of a **pain** to be a guy in the morning.

"Oh, I uh, sorry about that, it's just that it's morning, and you-" Ranma began to blush a deep red; almost as red as the hair he wore in his cursed form. He moved away from her slightly.

"Don't worry about it, you pervert." She giggled, blushing almost as fiercely as he was.

"Oh yeah, well, I thought I wouldn't have to worry about it, with how uncute you are!" Ranma and Akane chuckled quietly, not wanting to wake the other members of the household, but enjoying the time they had to spend with each other since it was Sunday, and they were the only people in the house awake, besides Kasumi. The two spoke quietly, working out the details of their plan to make sure that everything worked out the way **they** wanted, not the crazy ideas that everyone else seemed to have for them. After a while, Ranma stretched, and rolled off of Akane's bed, landing on the floor silently and with the grace possessed only by the most highly trained martial artists.

"Akane, the rest of the house'll be waking up soon, I should go." His face showed his obvious desire to stay, but also his understanding of his pressing need to be out of her room before anyone found out he'd been there. She glanced up at him, understanding his feelings perfectly. The entire morning had been like a dream to her. She just couldn't believe that she and Ranma had finally given up the huge charade that they had been at since soon after they met. Just when she was beginning to think that they would never be able to stand each other, Ranma went and surprised her again. As usual. Ranma began to walk towards her window; the obvious exit if one wished to be unnoticed. Akane stopped him before he could open it, however.

"And just where do you think you're going, Ranma? Aren't you forgetting something?"

Ranma quickly looked down at himself. He was wearing his white shirt and black pants, and he certainly didn't **think** he'd come in here last night with anything else. Akane just looked at him expectantly, with a sly grin on her face; no help there. He looked around the room quickly. There wasn't anything knocked out of place, Akane's room looked immaculate, so he didn't mess anything up while he was here that he needed to clean up before he left. Akane's gaze was fixated on him, making him somewhat nervous. After a moment she spoke, her voice low and menacing.

"Ranma, I can't believe you would have forgotten so quickly." Her eyes spoke volumes of the damage she was about to inflict on him. Ranma steeled himself for the inevitable, shutting his eyes tightly so that he wouldn't see it coming.

"I guess you need a little reminder, let's just hope that **this** helps you to remember next time!"

Ranma squinted his eyes tightly, certain that the mallet of doom was even now descending on his head with a force that would send any lesser man to his grave. To his surprise, the mallet didn't hit him. He was struck by something else entirely. As Ranma clenched his teeth and readied himself to take the blow, Akane pressed herself up against him, embracing him tightly, and thrust her mouth up against his in a passionate kiss that left him as breathless as it did surprised.

"If we're alone, never leave me without one of those first. Got it?" Akane grinned at him. Ranma was speechless. He stared, open-mouthed, at Akane, his mind frantically seeking to grasp what had just occurred.

"R-right, Akane, you got it."

"Now get out of here, before Nabiki wakes up and we have to give her our life savings to keep her quiet."

Ranma gave her another kiss, left silently through her window, and moved across the roof to the room in which he and his father slept. His father's massive panda form was still asleep, and Genma didn't even notice when Ranma lay down on his own pad and feigned sleep.

What Ranma and Akane didn't know was that Nabiki wasn't asleep. She was very much awake. Ranma and Akane's relationship had always left the sweet smell of profit in the air, and this morning the entire house practically **reeked** of it. Yes, Nabiki found herself very much awake, and she just needed a little time to figure out exactly why she was suddenly so excited. She jumped out of bed and sat down at her computer to start doing some serious snooping.

"All right, let's see what last night's security cameras picked up..."

Author's Notes: Again, sorry it's so short. This is still part of the chapters that I wrote nearly six years ago. Here's a brief explanation of why there's such a large chunk of time in between writing and posting and new stories:

There very tragic story of young author fall in cursed spring of drowned MMO Player six year ago. Is very cursed spring! Now whoever fall in spring play many MMO game all time!

I found my cure, finally. Now why's it so hard for Ranma? I'll be posting what I wrote six years ago with very few alterations, in an effort to move on to new chapters and whatnot. Until I catch up to where I've written, I'll post one or two chapters a week, depending on quality of people's comments and criticism. That does not mean if you praise it I'll post more, it means if you suggest some improvements to my writing style, I'll speed up a bit. Praise is appreciated, but I'm really more interested in becoming a stronger author (I'm 29, a bit late to try and become a powerful martial artist. Gotta be real with my plans, right?)


	3. Chapter 3

OH, HOW I WISH IT COULD BE SO, BUT ALAS, THESE CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME NOR AM I AUTHORIZED TO MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THEIR EXISTENCE. THEY BELONG TO TAKAHASHI-SAMA AND HER COLLEAGUES. FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP HER OR PAY THE PRICE OF HAVING TO ENDURE ANIME THAT STINKS AS A RESULT OF NOT PAYING YOUR DUES TO THE GREAT ONE!

Umm- I, uh… umm… heh, I have absolutely no idea where that came from. Anyways, enjoy chapter 3… (I **must** lay off the Mountain Dew [which I also don't own] a little bit… I'm starting to get weird.)

Apology Chapter 3

Ranma ½ Fanfiction

By

FrictionX42

It's early morning in the Tendou household. Birds are chirping, the fish are leaping, Kasumi is getting ready to go shopping for materials for breakfast, and Ranma is sneaking back to his room from Akane's window. Except for the last part, it is a perfectly normal early Sunday morning for the Nerima district.

Also not normal: Nabiki woke up early. She was trying to figure out what it was that made the air seem so lucrative overnight. There was the smell of secrets being kept, but she wasn't sure about exactly what sort of secrets there were, nor who was keeping them. She checked the household security system briefly, noting with interest that there was activity on the rooftops late last night, and also early this morning. She checked the videotapes, but last night had been a new moon and there hadn't been enough light to discern exactly what was going on. Nabiki swore under her breath; she **had** intended to get the cameras with passive light amplification, but the budget had been too tight, and she had needed a new suit last month for a business meeting.

She also noticed that there had been activity at Kasumi's window shortly before midnight last night. She furrowed her brow in wonder and peeked at the video camera footage for that side of the house. Luckily, there was a streetlight nearby, so Nabiki could easily make out what had occurred. Noting a young man in a yellow shirt and black pants with a bandanna tapping on the window, Nabiki sighed. _When will that boy get a sense of direction?_ Nabiki watched as, seconds later, Kasumi's head poked out of the window and she quite cheerfully and nicely gave Ryouga directions to Ranma's window. Nabiki giggled a little, wondering briefly about how much it would cost to get Ryouga set up with a hand-held GPS system with direction-giver on it. The idea was tempting, but Ryouga was a man who didn't have a lot of money. Nabiki wasn't about to offer him a loan- not even a small one. There was no promise of getting paid on time due to his aforementioned complete lack of navigational talents. _Well, I guess that answers the question of who was up on our roof last night anyways, but I could have sworn there was something else going on…Oh well. I guess he never found what he was looking for because he never fought Ranma._

Nabiki yawned deeply; stretching her body till she fully awakened, and her nostrils caught the savory aroma of Kasumi's cooking. _Nothing like a breakfast made by Kasumi to start a day off right, _Nabiki thought to herself, _just so long as Akane's not 'helping' her…_

Ranma fell asleep again shortly after returning to his bed, his father's snores helping him drift off to sleep as Ranma idly remarked to himself that Akane's snores were much cuter. He was still asleep when his father awoke to the smells of Kasumi's culinary skill wafting from the kitchen. Genma got up so quickly that he tripped over Ranma's sprawling form and landed flat on his face. _Darn it Ranma, I'll have you sleeping in Akane's room by the end of the summer!_ The idea cheered him almost as much for the thought of his son and Tendou's daughter finally becoming united as it did to have Ranma out of the room so that he could make his way to the door each morning without tripping over him. He'd plan that with Tendou later; it was too good of an idea to pass up, and he was sure that he or Tendou would think of something to make it work…

Soun was already seated at the breakfast table with his newspaper in hand when Nabiki and Saotome arrived downstairs, Nabiki taking her time and in no rush, while Saotome shot downstairs in his usual mealtime enthusiasm. He noted a gleam in Saotome's eyes that could only mean one thing: he had a plan. Soun felt his own enthusiasm rise; it had been so long since Genma and he had tried to join their children in holy matrimony- almost a whole day. It had been far too long to give Ranma and Akane a rest from their duties as upholders of the school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts…

Breakfast came and went rather uneventfully: Genma ate everything that was put in front of him, then all of Ranma's food and asked for seconds on both; Soun studied the newspaper; and Genma collected fifty yen from Nabiki when Ranma didn't come down as soon as the smell from Kasumi's cooking woke him up. Nabiki scowled as she handed it over, it should have been a sure bet. No one thought to ask what was going on or why neither Akane nor Ranma showed up for breakfast, and even Kasumi wasn't overly worried: after all, Ranma had probably fought with Ryouga last night and Akane was most likely sleeping in since it was Sunday. It was best that they not be bothered, and everyone had just let them sleep. It made for a much quieter morning, anyway, and Kasumi wasn't about to ruin it by waking up those two.

After breakfast, Soun and Genma sat down at the shogi board as usual, playing and plotting to bring their children together. Actually, Soun was doing most of the plotting, and Genma was taking advantage of his inattention to move pieces around as he saw fit, to remove Soun's pieces, and to engineer his wins without Soun noticing a single move. It was a very good day for Genma. He won three out of five games.

Nabiki rounded a few of her friends together for a little shopping spree. Her instincts were telling her that, contrary to her previous assumption, summer vacation might turn out rather lucrative after all…

Ranma groped around in the dark. He was in his bed, he could tell, but something was missing and he couldn't fall asleep, even though he was really sleepy. Staying up and talking to Akane late last night had exhausted him, but no matter how he turned, he just could not get comfortable. He finally figured it out. His arm was supposed to be around something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. He'd never slept that way before, but sure enough, that was what needed to happen. He tried putting his pillow there, but that didn't work, and he didn't have anything else to try. So he tossed and turned restlessly as he tried to fall asleep, visions of Akane swimming in his mind.

Akane wasn't getting any sleep at all. She was **so** tired, but she just couldn't seem to get to sleep. Thoughts of Ranma kept flooding into her mind, disturbing any peace and quiet she had managed to grasp. She moved her hand over to where Ranma had been until only a little while ago. The bed was still warm where he had been. Akane sighed deeply. **Now** what was she going to do? She and Ranma couldn't hide from their feelings any more, but she didn't want to tell anyone else. Nabiki would do something she was sure, but she wasn't certain if it would be good or bad. It would make it harder for her to make money off of them, but maybe, just maybe, her sisterly love would kick in and she would help. Yeah, and she might give all her money to charity, too. So Nabiki was out of the question, maybe Kasumi… no, not Kasumi, she might tell father, and then all hell would break loose as he tried to get them to marry again. Her friends at school were pretty frequent gossips, so that was out. Maybe she could tell Dr. Tofu! No, he was too close to Kasumi, and might feel the need to congratulate her father. Plus, she still felt… kind of uncomfortable around him. Not the way she used to, but certainly a little nervous. That left only P-Chan, but she hadn't seen him in weeks. No matter, she would tell him when he showed up. She just hoped he was ok…

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to find his way. Ryouga stalked the streets of some Nerima, a pale shadow of a man, searching for his hated enemy, the vile Saotome. Even **Kasumi** had given him bad directions. Ranma had turned the hearts of everyone against him. Even Akane had turned away from him and had been willing to marry Ranma. _Curse that damn bastard!_ Ryouga had screamed that in his head at least a hundred times that day. The sky was dark and stormy, but had not begun raining yet. Ryouga groaned aloud everything was against him. At least he hadn't had to see the wedding completed, since Ukyo and Shampoo had destroyed it before it could finish. So they weren't married yet, but Ryouga knew it was only a matter of time before he completely tainted Akane by his perverted ways and disgusting habits. He had to save Akane, somehow. But to do that, he had to beat Ranma, and that was nearly impossible. _I'd better start training extra hard right now if I'm going to beat Ranma in time._ And with that, Ryouga started running for the wilderness that served as his training ground.

A few hours later, Ryouga stopped running and looked around him to see where he had ended up. It was a small suburb, with nice houses and no distinguishable landmarks. It was overcast, and the day was cool despite it being summer. _Good;_ Ryouga thought, _maybe I can get in some good training here…_ He stopped in shock as he saw a signboard in front of a local dojo. It read "Tendou School Of Anything-Goes Martial Arts" in fanciful kanji. Ryouga threw his head back and screamed, demanding of the heavens, "HOW CAN THINGS POSSIBLY GET ANY WORSE!?" The sky replied with a flash of lightning and promptly began raining on him.


	4. Chapter 4

JUST BECAUSE I USE THESE CHARACTERS IN MY OWN LITTLE FANTASY WORLD THAT I MAKE YOU PEOPLE READ DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY ACTUALLY BELONG TO ME. THEY BELONG TO THE GODDESS TAKAHASHI-SAMA AND ANYONE SHE HAS GRANTED PERMISSION TO USE THE RIGHTS OF HER CHARACTERS. I HAVE NEITHER THE TALENT NOR THE TIME TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING NEARLY AS AWESOME AS RANMA 1/2. DON'T GIVE ME ANY CREDIT BECAUSE I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING SPECIAL.

P-Chan was furious. Now he was not only still in Nerima, but now he had wasted all that valuable time, was tired from running, and was in the last place he wanted to be in at this time. To make matters worse, he was a pig. Of all the possible forms that he could have gained, a pig would have been last on his list. Even a duck or a cat had some useful traits, and the yeti-riding-bull-while-holding-eel-and-crane thing was strong at the very least. But a pig… how much lower could he sink? Slugs maybe, but he wasn't sure one could drown. He heard the sound of a door being opened near him and looked up to see Kasumi just leaving for an early shopping trip. Acting on instinct, he quickly bolted inside as the door was opened. When he heard her shut it again he realized he had just trapped himself. Great. Now there were more wonderful things to add to his already wonderful day. Speculating as to where this sudden bout of sarcasm had sprung from, he wandered along the hallway until he made his way to the bathroom. He softly pushed the door open slightly with his snout, and entered. Inside he noted that Kasumi had changed the bathroom décor to match Akane's room. It even had Akane's bed in it. With Akane.

Apology

Chapter 4

A fan fiction by Frictionx42

Akane heard her door creak open slightly. At first she attempted to look like she was asleep in case it was Ranma so she could tease him about sneaking into her room while she was asleep, but after a minute or so nothing happened, so she opened her eyes to see what was going on. Her eyes fell upon P-Chan, shivering on the floor. She immediately jumped out of bed, grabbed P-Chan by the bandanna (it had always looked so good on him) and thrust him beneath the covers with her to help him warm up. After a little while, P-Chan began to relax.

Ryouga awoke in the dark to a soft warm pillowy feeling all around him. He blinked several times then opened his eyes fully so that he could see where he was. He looked up to see Akane's smiling face beaming down at him. His heart leapt, and he felt it fill to bursting with joy. **This** was what he lived for; and now here he was again, lying next to his beloved, and she was happy. He "Bweed" In delight, knowing that Ranma hadn't managed to pervert the heart of Akane against him yet if she could still be that happy to see him. After all, Ranma hated P-Chan didn't he? And if Ranma had any control over Akane, he would have made her hate P-Chan too, just to spite him. _That bastard Ranma will pay!_ Ryouga thought, and then lost himself in Akane. He snuggled up to her, snout brushing against her neck, letting her know that he was there and that he would protect her. Akane reacted by giggling, and then looked down at Ryouga with the happiest expression on her face Ryouga had ever seen. Ryouga felt like he had entered heaven. _She must have found out about my curse and realized it was me the whole time and she doesn't care! That must be it! She's happy that I am P-Chan because she really loves me and she's seen how I protect her from Ranma and…_

"P-chan, Ranma and I kissed for the first time last night! Isn't that great? It was the best night of my life, and then he stayed here with me until morning! This is so exciting!"

Looking up into her face, Ryouga could see her cheeks were flushed with the excitement, her eyes sparkling, and she was practically glowing with happiness. It was obvious to Ryouga she was telling the truth, and he fainted dead away.

Soun and Genma were still at the shogi board, doing what they did best: plotting to get their children together. They both knew that if they could just provide the right push, the two would finally admit their feelings for each other, Ranma would get rid of those other girls following him around, and they would marry like their fathers knew all along was best for them. They knew they could provide a well-grounded and suitable reason, but they just had to come up with one. Genma had even shifted into panda form to help him think. He said the fur in his ears helped to muffle sound and he could concentrate better. _Indeed, Saotome, you are concentrating better. I haven't seen you play this well in years._ Truly, his friend had to be coming up with something brilliant that was sure to succeed. It was only a matter of time before he managed to think it through fully and tell him. So Soun waited.

_I wonder when lunch is?_ Was all Genma-panda had running through his head.

Kasumi was going to visit Doctor Tofu today. That thought always filled her with joy. That man was so nice, but it was strange, he was very much alone. _He really ought to settle down and get married one of these days,_ Kasumi thought to herself, _Then his mother wouldn't have to worry so much. Plus, he's such a dear sweet man; he deserves to have someone around to make him happy. Until he finds someone, I guess I'll just keep bringing him food and keeping him company._ Kasumi smiled subconsciously at the thought. She liked helping people, and even if Doctor Tofu acted strangely sometimes, he had helped Akane and Ranma out more times than she could count. _I owe him at least a little visit every now and then, just to keep him from being too lonely. _That thought made her smile.

Ranma loved mornings like this, when he could just sit back and relax. They had come far and few between in the last ten years as he had traveled with his father, but he had learned to enjoy them when they came. This peaceful morning was particularly well timed, as it permitted him to ponder over his new relationship with Akane. Ranma was fairly certain now that he did in fact love her, yet every time he tried to say it- even to himself- he always tripped over the words and they wouldn't come out. He wondered idly if he had said them to Akane at Jusendou, like she had said he did, and he had in fact forgotten about the whole thing. Ranma had to admit it was a distinct possibility. Oh well, he'd be able to say it to her before too long, he was sure. He daydreamed for a while about life with Akane, noting with pleasure that his future actually looked pretty good, so long as he never let her cook. He grinned at that, and it served only to lighten his mood further and make him feel more at peace with the world.

The idyllic feeling was shattered quickly. A small shriek of "P-Chan! P-Chan what happened?" cut through the air from upstairs. Ranma recognized the voice instantly as that of Akane's, and hurriedly dashed out of his room and down the hall to find out what was going on. He arrived there only to hear the water running in the bathroom. He ran in, and burst through the door just in time to see Akane about to plunge a very familiar small, black piglet into the steaming water of the bathtub. Time moved in slow motion as Ranma moved at a snail's pace to intercept the pig's descent into the water. His normally lightning reflexes and speed seemed more like lead weights as he launched himself at the disaster he was about to see unfold in front of him. The image of the pig slowly approaching the water was burned into his mind, almost as if his brain wanted him to remember with absolute detail what would most likely be his last moments on earth. If Akane found out about Ryouga and P-Chan, then she would probably kill the both of them.

Ranma caught sight of P-Chan's eyes snap open just as he was about to submerge. Time moving as slowly as it was, he could see the abject terror spread slowly across the little piglet's face as it discovered its current location and where it was headed. If Ranma lived through this, he was certain he would have nightmares about that face for the rest of his life. P-Chan squealed in abject panic and he struggled to escape her grasp, but was powerless to stop what was about to occur. Akane noticed none of this, and continued in her task to warm up P-Chan in an effort to revive her little pig. *SPLASH! * The deed was done.

Ranma's heart recoiled in terror as he realized what was about to happen, and he slowly sank to the ground, his mind reeling with thoughts of what was about to happen. Finally, he gave up trying to guess and slipped into a dark unconsciousness instead. As he fainted the last thing Ranma remembered seeing was Akane's eyes open wide in shock and terror.

Author's Notes: Glad for all of the positive reviews, thanks again. Here we'll take a brief rest from the WAFFiness. Don't worry, the story's gonna end happy (at least it's currently scripted to, I have made some small changes to my notes from 6 years ago, and there may be more later.) Things may get a bit darker for the next couple chapters, I cannot keep the level of happy-wonder-time up forever, I need some kind of event, some drama. Know what I mean? Anyhow, I'm tired as heck right now (couldn't sleep a wink last night. Literally stayed up the entire night because I couldn't get to sleep. Got me in a little trouble in class today, but not much) so I'll let you all have a crack at this chapter and let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

DO NOT EVER ASSUME TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF THINGS! THE FACT IS, I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO THE GODDESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND SHE ALONE HAS THE POWER TO ACCEPT THINGS IN RETURN FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE OF THESE CHARACTERS AND HER ORIGINAL STORYLINE!

IF YOU GIVE ME ANYTHING, I WILL FALL VICTIM TO THE UNMERCIFUL TALENTS OF VARIOUS GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND LAWYERS WHO WILL ENSURE THAT I SUFFER AS GREATLY AS I CAN AND PERHAPS EVEN AUDIT ME!

Apology

Chapter 5

A fanfiction by FrictionX42

When Ranma finally came to, it was very dark. He couldn't see a thing; just feel a soft, fuzzy feeling enveloping him. Ranma considered this for a while, trying to reason it through. _Is this what it's like being dead? I always thought I was supposed to follow some bright light or something. Maybe this is just a sort of preview? I wonder if I am gonna go do that heaven thing or go to another life like some of those priests always used to talk to Pops and me about… maybe I shoulda paid more attention to them, but I guess I didn't expect to be killed so early in life. Aw man, Akane and I were gettin' along so well lately too. Figures that it woulda been Ryouga that finally got her mad enough to kill somebody. Where's he gone off to, though? Knowin' Ryouga, he probably wandered off somewhere and got himself lost even though this is probably the worst place possible to do such a thing. So what am I gonna do here? Wait a minute, that sounds like Pops' snoring… Where am I?_ Ranma shuffled a little bit and realized that he was just under a blanket. "Whoa, how'd I get here? The last thing I remember was Akane puttin' Ryouga in the bath…Ryouga! I hope he's okay!" Ranma kicked off the covers and looked at the clock. It was eight-thirty in the morning, and the house was surprisingly quiet. Ranma just hoped it wasn't the calm before the storm.

Moving out of his room, the first thing that Ranma noted was the absolute lack of anything out of the ordinary. The hallway was perfectly clean, and it was as if the floor had been recently washed. It was scaring the heck out of him. He would have been more prepared to have exited his room only to find the decapitated body of Ryouga lying in a pool of blood. The absolute spotlessness of the area was altogether too strange and filled him with an odd sense of dread. Ranma passed by Akane's door, wondering if he should knock, but then continued on his way downstairs. Once he had descended the stairs, Ranma peeked to the end of the downstairs hallway. It wasn't there anymore. It wasn't just that he couldn't see it, it was just that the end of the hallway now no longer existed as such and appeared to be doing a strikingly good impression of a doorway, or, more accurately, a huge hole allowing one to see right through into the backyard. Ranma stared at it for a minute or so. He had expected that Akane would become angry, but he hadn't expected such wanton destruction. Ranma ceased his thoughts and went looking for more survivors. He found Kasumi napping on the living room table. Gently, he tapped her on the shoulder.

"EEK!" Kasumi shot up into the air and landed on her feet showing such alacrity and grace that Ranma caught himself wondering if Kasumi hadn't been studying under Happousai and surpassed them all on the sly. She calmed down when she realized it was only Ranma.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was you."

"That's okay, where is everybody? I found Pops, but I haven't been able to find anybody else.

"Oh that's right, Dr. Tofu said to send you right away as soon as you woke up. Something dreadful has happened to Ryouga. Akane's at school and everyone else is out right now."

"Okay, I'll go. Thanks!" With that, Ranma sped out of the house and was on his way.

"How's your head? Oh dear, he left already. I do hope he's careful." Kasumi quietly went back to napping.

Ranma hurried towards Dr. Tofu's clinic. As he ran, he jumped up onto the fence. He ran a few steps, then missed his footing and fell flat on his face. _That's weird; I should be able to do that with no problem…_ Ranma dusted himself off, and jumped back onto the fence. He didn't even land properly. Ranma felt one foot brush the top of the fence, and then he experienced himself falling. *SPLASH* Ranma fell headlong into the aqueduct. Sputtering his way to the surface, Ranma suddenly felt a splitting pain shoot through the top of his head.

"Ow! What the heck is this?" Ranma felt along the top of his head, and his fingers found a bald patch with some bumpy parts to it almost as if he had… "Stitches. Oh man, if I got it bad enough to get stitches, then Ryouga must be…" Ranma swam out of the water and up onto dry land. His head still hurt, but he was able to start hurrying to the clinic again. This time, however, he stayed on the ground. He wanted to get to Ryouga, and fast.

"Doc! Doc, are you in? How's Ryouga?" Ranma burst through the door and into the doctor's waiting room. Dr. Tofu emerged from the back area with a grim look on his face.

"Ranma, it's good that you are here. How are your stitches?"

"They hurt a bit, but it's okay. Where's Akane?"

"Ranma, Akane went to school a little while ago. I think you should stay here for a few hours while I take a look at you." Dr. Tofu reached out and grabbed Ranma's shoulder as he was leaving.

"Ranma, I know you want to see Akane, but I need you here for a while. I don't think you should go to school yet, and Ryouga needs someone here for him." Noting that Ranma was apparently ignoring him, Dr. Tofu tried a different tactic to get his attention: "Ranma, you do realize that you've been out for most of the week! It's Thursday!"

Ranma quickly snapped back to reality. "Th-Thursday?" he gulped. _Akane must have been __**furious!**_ "Sorry Doc, I just had some things on my mind."

Doctor Tofu nodded, "I know you're worried about Akane, but I think that it's Ryouga you should be worried about right now. Come back to my office, Ranma, there are some things we need to talk about."

Ranma nodded and silently followed Dr. Tofu into the back room. Doctor Tofu spent the next couple of hours checking over Ranma, making sure he was healing correctly and that there had been no brain damage or lasting damage from his ordeal, as well as restoring Ranma's true gender. Ranma learned that he had spent the rest of that day and the entire next three days unconscious at the Tendou house, and that Ryouga had been moved here shortly after the hospital couldn't take him due to his lack of identification and insurance. Doctor Tofu had been able to take him and provide better care for him than he would have received at the hospital, but Ryouga was still in a bad state. When Doctor Tofu finally finished with Ranma and allowed Ranma to see Ryouga, Ranma's eyes bugged out of his head and he gasped. Ryouga's body was lying on a table in one of Dr. Tofu's back rooms, and Ranma wasn't sure if Ryouga was breathing or not. Ranma watched carefully, the tension building up in him nervously, almost as if he were **willing** Ryouga to breathe. Ranma was rewarded when he saw Ryouga's chest rise and fall slowly, and heard Ryouga cough a little bit of blood up.

"Doc," Ranma could barely even whisper, "Is Ryouga gonna live through this?"

Doctor Tofu's face was sullen and serious. "I don't know Ranma. There's a chance, and it's the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I may need you to-"

"I'll do it." Ranma interjected, "I owe it to him, I coulda saved him if I'd have been fast enough." Ranma was barely holding back tears of shame.

"Ranma! This isn't a decision you should take lightly! You need a lot more information before I'll let you do anything!" Doctor Tofu looked serious, more serious than Ranma could ever remember. Even more serious than when Doctor Tofu had described the effects of the Xai-Fan-Heng-Gao shiatsu attack or telling Ranma he couldn't cure his Full-Body Cat-Tongue nerve or Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion. Ranma froze as the sheer depth of the situation began to hit him. Doctor Tofu continued,

"Ranma, Ryouga is going to die if we don't do something. He is seriously injured as well as having massive lack of ki to heal. On top of all that, he appears to have suffered some brain damage, and we can't figure out what effect that could have until he wakes up. But he's not going to be able to wake up on his own, Ranma. We have to help him." Ranma nodded as Doctor Tofu went on,

"Ranma, I know this is going to be difficult to comprehend, but you are the one of the only people here strong enough to help Ryouga out. Neither Happousai nor Cologne can be persuaded to help. I would do it, but no one else could conduct the ritual to save him."

Ranma nodded, not fully sure he understood what was going on. _Is Doctor Tofu gonna have to do a transplant or something?_ But he had said **strong enough**, and while he was sure that giving up an organ would take some strength, he doubted that he was one of the only people that could give Ryouga whatever he needed. Besides, the Doctor had also mentioned brain damage. Doctor Tofu's eyes flashed as his eyes met Ranma's and he continued to explain.

"I need to give him some of your **ki**, Ranma. Your life essence - a part of your very **soul**." Doctor Tofu's face seemed aged with worry, and Ranma was sure that his own face had just gone white.

"This is a very dangerous process that may do irreparable damage to the both of you if it is not done right. There is also a very good chance of you being weakened by the same amount of ki you give to him – **permanently** weakened." The doctor's voice almost cracked as he spat the last part out. He looked at Ranma expectantly.

"How much do you think he will need, Doc?" Ranma could barely manage a whisper.

"About a third." Doctor Tofu turned his head to look at Ryouga again. "Maybe more."

"Wow." Ranma breathed. He couldn't look away from Ryouga's prone form on the examination table. Ryouga slept fitfully, the damage so intense that Ranma was certain that what little rest Ryouga was getting certainly wasn't doing him any good and was probably wracked by nightmares.

Doctor Tofu continued speaking as he motioned for Ranma to leave the room, "Ranma, I don't want you to make a decision yet, there's still too much to think about, and I know you have to talk to other people first. I want to hear your decision, but not today. Tell me tomorrow, and we'll work out the details then."

When Ranma left his office Doctor Tofu called after him, "Ranma, take things slow today, I don't even want you to run anywhere!" but Ranma didn't hear him as he took off towards the school.

Ranma left the clinic very worried and distraught. _I still don't have much of a choice, you know, it's either I save Ryouga or I let him die…_ Ranma walked the rest of the way to school at a very quick pace, staggering slightly but hoping that the speed would distract him and help him to make sense of what was going on.

Author's Notes: One of the best parts about reading a story you wrote so long ago is that it seems new again! You remember the basic premise, but other than that it's pretty refreshing. Well, maybe not this chapter in particular... it's kind of depressing. But this chapter is necessary to bring some of the other parts along, so I think it was worth it. This chapter is the last that I completed way back when I first started writing, so I'll finally be able to break some new ground starting around the middle of the next one. I'm excited!


	6. Chapter 6

ALL HORRORS DESCEND UPON THOSE VILE KNAVES THAT ATTEMPT TO STEAL OTHER'S WORK AND CLAIM IT AS THEIR OWN! HELL ITSELF HAST SET ASIDE A SPECIAL PLACE FOR THEE AND HUNGERS FOR THY SOULS! AND IF MY HORDE OF DERANGED RABID WEASELS OR I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY IN THE MATTER, WE WILL SPEED YOU THERE POSTHASTE! IN LIKE NEWS, THESE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MY CREATION. THEY BELONG TO THE GODDESS RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, AND SHE ALONE MAY DETERMINE WHO CAN GET PAID FOR WORK FEATURING THEM. I AM NOT COUNTED AMONGST THOSE PEOPLE, AS I USE HER CHARACTERS FOR MY OWN PURPOSES WITHOUT HER PERMISSION. I SINCERELY HOPE SHE NEVER FINDS OUT OR THAT IF SHE DOES SHE IS NOT UNDULY UPSET BY MY REPRESENTATION.

Apology

Chapter 6

A fan fiction by Frictionx42

"Akane! Hey Akane, look! Ranma's coming!"

Akane finally snapped out of her daze at the sound of Ranma's name. Her classmates were all very animatedly looking out the window. Akane stood slowly and with a dazed look in her eye, come up to the window to look out. Her eyes widened when she saw him walking slowly towards the school grounds. Ranma was stumbling wearily, and looked about ready to collapse. Akane let out a gasp, and rushed out of the room. Behind her, the teacher continued, "And so you see, the coefficient of friction tells us that…" droning on about various physics equations, completely unaware that not one of his students was paying the slightest bit of attention to him.

Ranma's head swam, his vision blurred. The streets seemed to go in three different directions at once, as well as flipping over so that people had to walk upside-down on them. His head throbbed and ached. His strength ebbed from his limbs more and more with each grueling step. The rest of the world kept hazing in and out, with ample amounts of black and red added in for extra effect. In one of his more lucid moments, he caught a glimpse of his school sign ahead of him. 'Furinken High School.' He stumbled in through the gates. The walkway to the main building kept lurching this way and that, and threatened to throw itself at him rather violently. A hazy, tree-like thing loomed up ahead of him suddenly, and he steadied himself against it.

Akane quickly exited the building and crossed the school grounds. She slowed to a stop as she reached Ranma. He was wheezing as though he had sprinted the whole way, and was supporting himself on a nearby tree. Worry etched itself across Akane's face as she examined her fiancee's condition. He looked tired and drained, as though he had been hit by one of Hinako-Sensei's techniques. Tears clouded her vision as she looked at Ranma. He was in bad shape; breathing heavily, pale, and unable to hold himself up. As she watched, Ranma fell forward as if in slow motion. Akane ran forward and caught him before he hit the ground. "Need.. talk to 'Kane…" Ranma struggled to say. Akane's heart clinched in her belly and bile rose to her throat as she steeled herself for the impending conversation: the breaking of ties, the calling off of their engagement, the final severing of all that had occurred between them. She knew, deep down, that there would never be anyone else for her, but she hoped that Ranma would find happiness with someone, even if it had to be Ukyo or Shampoo. Despair wracked her mind, but Akane forced herself to look strong – if she broke down now, she felt sure she'd go insane with grief and sink into a massive depression. Akane blinked and two tears fell, clearing her vision just in time to see Ranma lift his head and look at her.

Ranma wondered why he had ever gotten out of bed that morning. His head throbbed, and with each step the pain grew. He was near Akane at last however, so Ranma made up his mind to talk to her before he went home. Suddenly someone appeared before him. He couldn't quite make out whom it was, but she looked pretty familiar- or at least as familiar as an out-of-focus outline could be. He could tell it was a she because she wore a girl's uniform. Ranma was about to say something when suddenly the tree he had braced himself on lurched and he lost his grip. Ranma was falling, and he couldn't seem to move fast enough to stop it. Ranma braced himself as best he could against the impact with the ground, but just before he struck, two very strong and somewhat ungentle arms caught him. "I need to talk to Akane," Ranma said, hoping that this person would take him to her. He waited a second, and then felt two very small wet drops fall onto his cheek. He looked up, and just for an instant his vision cleared. Holding him was Akane, and he wished he had a camera. She looked more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. Holding him and sniffling, with tears streaming down her face, Akane looked to Ranma like an angel. Her eyes were bright and shining, if a little red and puffy, and she was looking down at him with an expression of concern and worry.

Ranma said the first thing that came to his mind, "I love you." And then he promptly passed out again.

"Yes Upperclassman Kuno, I'm sorry I ever stood in your way! I will give you both the Pigtailed Girl and Akane Tendo in exchange for my miserable life!" Upperclassman Kuno towered over the beaten and humbled form of the accursed Saotome with his weapon held high and his shimmering kimono blazing his radiance out for all to see.

"Ranma Saotome, finally you admit defeat to your betters. My warrior's pure heart forbids me from striking at a helpless foe. The vengeance of heaven is slow, but sure. Vile sorcerer, know that it is only for the sake of Akane Tendo and the Pigtailed Girl that I spare you now. Go and never show your face here again, lest I forget myself and cause you to leave this world!" Kuno's splendiferous visage glowed as he issued his final demands on the wicked Saotome. Perhaps if he felt magnanimous later, he would permit Ranma to work as a humble manservant, since for some strange reason his sister had become so attached to him. _Obviously her insanity is to blame, for my sister to even consider such a base cretin to be worthy of attention from a Kuno!_

Ranma quivered in fear on the ground before him, terror mounting as it was so apparent that the great Tatewaki Kuno could dispatch him with but a thought. He produced a small gem on a chain from around his neck and laid it on the ground at Kuno's feet. "Upperclassman Kuno, you are most generous! Here is the key with which I have kept you from your loves. Now they are free to fly into your arms as fate has determined from the beginning. I will now depart for good, and never shall you see me again, for I value my wretched life too much to return to face certain death at your masterful hands!" Ranma's face became distorted by shadows, and he began to fade from sight.

"Hold, sorcerer!" Kuno called out to him, halting Ranma's departure. "You also must give up your powers from now on!" Kuno commanded the vile Saotome.

"But Upperclass-!" "Knave!" Kuno cut him off, "Tempt not thy early fate by following not my instructions. I shall not suffer thee to loose your evils upon another place! Swear off thy wickedness or prepare to face the true wrath of heaven!" Kuno blasted Ranma with his brilliance, utterly destroying the shadows that had come to take him away.

Ranma blanched and fell to his knees, crying, "Yes, Upperclassman Kuno, I shall do your bidding, just spare me and I will serve you for the rest of my days!"

"It is good that you have learned your place in the great scheme of things, Saotome. Now, there are some things I must attend to, so if you would just go and tell my good Sasuke that you are to work under him…"

"Yes, Upperclassman Kuno, but first you must do something." Ranma had a sly grin on his face, as if he knew something was going on.

"Out with it man! I must make haste to my loves lest they are forced to wait even longer before feeling the depth of my love for them!" Kuno's displeasure was great. Perhaps a week without food would help to remind this insolent whelp of his place.

Ranma stood up and grabbed Kuno's shoulder, shaking it roughly. "You need to answer question two!"

Kuno awoke abruptly. He was sitting in the middle of his math class, and everyone was looking at him expectantly. Nabiki Tendo was shaking him by the shoulder and had an annoyed look on her face. He was beginning to dread more and more the thought of having her as a sister-in-law. Still, if he could win her over to his side, his family fortunes would likely triple within a year. This bore some consideration…

"Mister Kuno! If you are finished with your afternoon nap, we would like to hear the answer to question two!" The instructor also wore a very displeased look on his face.

"Pester not the great Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Furinken High school and the rising young star of -" The instructor cut him off by hitting him on the forehead with a piece of chalk.

"Mister Kuno, we don't have time for that. Go stand in the hall!"

"Yes, sir." Kuno slumped out of his chair and made his way to the door. Nabiki just gave a big sigh, and rested her chin on her hand. _When will that moron ever learn?_

Akane held Ranma close to her. As she held him, he seemed to regain his strength at a truly amazing rate. Within only a few minutes Ranma seemed much better and he tried to sit up.

"Akane, I-" Ranma began, but Akane put a finger to his lips.

"Hush, Ranma. It's all right. I'm sorry about what happened, and I'm just glad to know that you're going to be all right. I lost control the other day, and- Oh, Ranma!" she began weeping again. Ranma roughly got to his feet and gathered Akane in his arms, whispering quietly to her that everything was going to be all right.

(Author's Note: That's it. That's the end of my writings from so long ago. On to the new stuff!)

Akane fell into Ranma, thrusting her face into his chest and apologizing with a fervor similar to Ranma's when he finally began to apologize to her only a few days ago. As she began crying in earnest, sounds of her despair floated up to an open window on the school building above. On the other side of that window a self-absorbed incompetent waited, buckets in hand as he thought of his hated enemy Ranma Saotome.

"That wretch hasn't shown his face here all week! Surely this means he has finally realized that his cowardly ways cannot possibly win against the steadfast purity of the great Blue Thunder! The wrath of heaven is slow but sure, and methinks it is nearing time for him to – What's that I hear? The sounds of a tender young maiden in needs of a savior!" Kuno dropped the buckets he was holding and rushed for the window. "Keep thy hope, fair one! None other than the great Blue Thunder, scion of the noble house of Kuno comes to your aid!" With a mighty yell, Kuno leaped from the window to the ground below and drew his bokken. "What now, knave? Seek thee to press your intentions onto..." Kuno stopped in shock as he witnessed the sight before him. There was Ranma Saotome, enemy of all that was good and right, with his beloved Akane Tendo in his arms, obviously the victim of his wild predations as she sobbed in abject misery!

"Saotome, you will take your hands off of her this instant! Your despoiling of the honor of young women cannot be allowed to commence!" Kuno approached Ranma and Akane as he continued his blustering, "Fear not, my sweet Akane Tendo! I shall single-handedly free you and the spirited Pigtailed Girl from his dark embrace!

Ranma flinched as he felt Akane's battle aura flare, but realized that in his current condition he was in no state to be engaging in combat. Instead he walked as Akane stalked towards the buffoon. Ranma gasped as he heard Akane growl her warning.

"Kuno, this is your one, your only, and your last warning. Stay away from MY FIANCEE!" Akane snarled, as she grabbed Kuno's bokken out of his shocked grip, raised it to his face and snapped it in two with a flick of her fingers.

Even Kuno wasn't dense enough to ignore a warning such as that. As the color drained from his face, Kuno stammered, "I-I suppose that the time is ill-suited to the two of us to discuss our happy future Akane Tendo. Perhaps tomorrow evening we shall date and-" Kuno was cut off as Akane threw the grip of Kuno's wrecked weapon into his face, striking his upper lip and -Akane noted with some satisfaction- drew blood. Noting that her violent action had silenced his prattle, Akane growled again,

"That goes for myself and the Pigtailed Girl as well, Kuno." As Kuno began sputtering protests, Akane held up her hand, "We officially deny you any and all of your claims to us. Stop bothering us or you're really going to regret it." With that, Akane spun away from Kuno and clutched Ranma's arm in her own. A small grin played across Akane's face as she looked into Ranma's eyes and winked. "Come on Ranma, let's go home."

Ranma paused for a moment, the memory of the end of his first day at Furinken running through his mind. With a grin he mock-protested, "But it's not even lunch yet..." Behind them, Kuno scowled before gathering up the remains of his mangled weapon and heading to his meditation chamber. Paying no attention to him at all, Ranma continued, "All right Tomboy, let's go." Forgetting his current state, Ranma spun a bit too fast and his injuries reminded him that he needed to take it easy. He stumbled into Akane, one of his hands briefly using her to steady him and keep him from pitching forward to the ground. Once steadied, Ranma gulped and quickly removed his hand from Akane's chest. "Uh, sorry Akane, it was an accident." Ranma steeled himself to take his expected beating, but when he looked at Akane's face Ranma noted that the fiery red that he expected to see in her eyes had instead retreated to her cheeks. The rosy hue seemed to be contagious, as Ranma felt his own face and ears heating up in a furious blush. Akane grabbed Ranma's hand possessively and the two started walking.

"Come on then, Pervert," Akane glanced back at the retreating form of Kuno and with a grin mocked the dejected kendoist, "Lest your base perversions sully the pristine reputation of this school." The two shared laughter as they exited the school grounds. Their puzzled classmates watched the two leave as the teacher continued to drone on, "So you see, when you overcome the static friction, then..."

Author's Notes: I cannot even describe how exited I am to finally have some new material after so many years of sitting on this project. Thanks very much to those who are providing feedback; it's delicious (licks lips).

Sorry this particular chapter is short. I originally (6 years ago, it's in my notes) intended there to be a fight scene with Kuno, but decided to leave it for a couple chapters from now, as there are more important things to be discussed. Such as what Ranma's going to do about Ryoga, and what Akane's punishment should be for losing her control. She ain't getting off easy, and it'll make for a fun chapter to write.


	7. Chapter 7

RANMA ½, ALL CHARACTERS AND PLACES FOUND THEREIN BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND ANYONE SHE HAS DEEMED WORTHY ENOUGH TO ASSIST HER IN DISTRIBUTION OF HER WORK. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE AND TRYING TO GIVE ME ANY MONEY OR CREDIT FOR THE WONDERFUL WORK SHE HAS DONE WOULD NOT ONLY BE WRONG, BUT ALSO ILLEGAL AND COULD GET ME IN A LOT OF TROUBLE. I HAVE THIS HORDE OF RABID, SEMI-TRAINED WEASELS YOU SEE, AND THEY LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE WHO PROFIT OFF OF OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK COME AROUND. THEY'VE TOLD ME THAT THOSE PEOPLE CAN BE QUITE DELICIOUS.

Apology

Chapter 7

A Ranma ½ Fanfiction

By FrictionX42

Ranma and Akane walked through the front door to the Tendo household. Well, Akane walked. Ranma was more or less dragged in by his tomboyish fiancee. The two of them looked rather tired and bedraggled, one due to injuries that he had yet to recover from, and the other from a few days of emotional turmoil and from carrying Ranma part of the way from the school back to the house. As the two changed out their footwear, Akane heard a crashing sound from the living room. Rushing to investigate, she found Dr. Tofu with a tea set on his head, dancing a jig on top of the table. Figuring what had occurred, Akane skipped asking the doctor anything and instead went to the kitchen to find Kasumi putting some muffins onto a serving plate.

"Hey sis, Ranma came to school, but wasn't feeling well, so he and I came back home. I'll take care of him this afternoon" she said quickly as Kasumi fixed her with a look that was somehow warm, comforting and nice, and at the same time accusing and icy.

"Welcome back Akane, that's so nice of you. Make sure you take good care of Ranma." Came the reply. Anyone less familiar with Kasumi wouldn't have detected the slightest bit of forceful edge to her voice, but Akane could tell. She managed a weak smile and continued as Kasumi took out two more muffins to place on the plate.

"Well, it's not like he had anyone else to help him Kasumi. Is that why doctor Tofu is here? For Ranma?"

Kasumi smiled before answering, "Well, you know Doctor Tofu, he's always so worried about keeping everyone happy. He does some of the silliest things!"

"You don't know the half of it, sis." Akane gave a wry grin. "So he's here to talk to Ranma then?"

Kasumi picked up the plate with the warm muffins and nodded to Akane, "Can you grab some extra cups for yourself and Ranma? Doctor Tofu already has the tea, I was just bringing out some snacks since he looked so worried. Honestly, I don't know of any doctor that works as hard as he does."

As Kasumi left the kitchen Akane opened the cupboard and took out two cups, one belonging to her and the other to Ranma. As she brought the two of them down, however, her hands slipped and Ranma's cup fell to the floor, smashing into many little pieces. _Never ends, does it?_ Akane thought bitterly to herself. She heard Kasumi make a startled "Eep!" as the kitchen door flew open. She looked up to see Ranma leaning against the door frame, frowning.

The corners of his mouth twitched as he fought to keep from saying anything insulting. He'd been watching the doctor make a fool of himself in the living room when he'd heard the sound of something breaking. Before he could think about what he was doing or recall that he wasn't supposed to move quickly, Ranma found himself opening the door to the kitchen. He saw Akane there, with a cup in her hands and a guilty look on her face. Then he heard Kasumi's voice from behind him, "Ranma, I don't think you should be moving around like that so soon after waking up. Akane said you weren't feeling very well when you got to school today and I want you to rest and take it easy." She then returned to the table where Doctor Tofu was busy trying to eat his napkin.

Ranma glanced back at Akane, then at the remains of his cup on the floor. An arrogant smile crept to his lips as he turned away from her, making sure that the bald patch and stitches were in her view. "Hmph. Guess you'll never be anything other than a klutz, Akane. If it were me, I'd have had the mess cleaned up in the half-second before anyone else got here. No way **you** could move that fast though."

Ears burning in shame and anger, Akane retorted, "What makes you think I couldn't have done it that fast, Ranma? Not everyone tries to avoid taking responsibility like you do!"

_Gotcha,_ Ranma grinned. He turned back around and took a step into the kitchen. Hooking one foot around the trash can, he slid it over to where Akane was standing. "Well then, let's see you do it, if you think you can. Half a second. If you lose, you feed me that muffin that Kasumi made!"

Akane stared back at him, shocked. "But-" she started, but was interrupted by a still-grinning Ranma.

"That is, unless you're too busy trying to avoid taking responsibility!" his eyes flashed, challenging Akane. He was starting to get a few ideas what to do to make her repay him for losing her control and maybe, just maybe, learn to keep a slightly tighter rein on her anger.

Akane stared at him a moment longer. _He's, he's being such a JERK! But what's with the smile? Is he doing what I think he's doing?_ She let her curiosity get the better of her. She opened her mouth and whispered so that Kasumi and Doctor Tofu couldn't hear from the next room, "Ranma, is this what I need to do to make it up to you?" To her annoyance, Ranma just grinned even bigger at her in response. "All right then," Akane muttered, "get ready to start the clock, Ranma. I'm going to show you who's slow!" She positioned the trash can and got down on her knees, hands at the ready.

Ranma's face softened. He looked at her, saw the determination on her face as she glanced from him to the pile of broken ceramic. Ranma grinned as he noted her move her hands to a ready position just above the pieces of broken cup. "Now** that's** the Akane I love most," He said. As she shot him a very shocked look, Ranma got the distraction he was waiting for and he yelled "GO!"

* * *

"Mmm, Kasumi, this muffin is great!" Ranma mused as Akane withdrew her hand from stuffing part of it into his face. He grinned at her as she glowered at him. He caught a slight glint of amusement in her eyes though, so he felt it was safe to keep up with the teasing. Kasumi was pretending not to notice, but both of the teens could tell that she was ready to burst into laughter at any moment.

As Akane refilled Ranma's tea, Kasumi spoke up, "I guess you weren't kidding when you said you'd take care of Ranma this afternoon, Akane. You're doing a very good job so far. Isn't she, Doctor?" She turned to smile at Tofu, who reddened visibly and overturned his teacup on himself. "Oh, before I forget, Doctor Tofu had this bag when he arrived here, Akane. It has Ranma's name on it, so I assume it's for him. Since you're taking care of him this afternoon, I felt that maybe you should take it." Eyes twinkling in amusement on an otherwise serene face, Kasumi handed Akane a brown paper bag with 'Ranma' scrawled across the front in fanciful kanji. Kasumi then turned back to attempting to hold a conversation with Doctor Tofu, who was preparing to leave.

In between eating her own muffin and feeding Ranma bites of his, Akane checked the bag. Inside, a rolled-up piece of paper contained instructions for treatment of Ranma's head wound, and the bag held the medicine required to fulfill those instructions. As she and Ranma finished the last few bites of their respective baked goods, Akane got to her feet and looked down at Ranma.

"So Ranma, what do you want to do for the rest of the day? It looks like our dads are off chasing the old letch, so we'll probably see them around dinnertime." Ranma held up an arm to her, gazing up at her expectantly. She sighed and grabbed his arm, helping him to his feet. "You know, I could have won that little bet if you hadn't distracted me, Ranma." She exulted briefly as he put one arm around her as she steadied him. She mockingly glared up at his face as he let go of her.

Ranma smiled at her again, "All part of keeping control, Akane. Whaddaya say we head out to the dojo and you can practice a little?" Akane looked at him, confused. Ranma winked at her, "Grab your gi and meet me there in five minutes, Akane. Get ready for a hard workout." Ranma leisurely made his way towards the dojo.

Akane watched him for a few moments. _It's so odd seeing Ranma move slowly, he's the fastest guy I've ever seen. _Akane's memories flitted to the first couple of days Ranma came into her life. _He was able to dodge everything I threw at him that first time we sparred. Then he avoided Kuno like it was nothing. Why is it that these days I seem to be able to hit him all the time? Come to think of it, __**why**__ do I hit him all the time? I know __**I'm**__ not that much faster than I was back then... And I know that he's faster than he was then. Maybe a lot faster... _Akane snapped back to reality when Ranma opened the door to the dojo and went inside. Blushing, she ran upstairs to change into her gi. _Then again, it __**is**__ kind of nice watching him walk._

* * *

Sweat dripped from her forehead to the dojo floor below. Akane was on her hands and knees gasping for breath. Ranma had run her through a couple of katas she'd never done before. Akane could tell that they belonged to the Saotome side of the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts since she'd spent almost as much time in the air as she had on the ground. Ranma had drilled her on them for over an hour before he'd called for a break. She looked up as Ranma walked over and stooped down next to her. He was smiling at her, and Akane couldn't resist returning his contagious grin. He reached down, cupped her cheek with his hand and looked her in the eyes as he spoke.

"Get used to it, Akane. As soon as I'm better, we're going to do those a few times a day, every day." He said softly to her.

"Ranma, why are you doing this? You've never been interested in my training before..." Akane asked, confusion masking her features.

Ranma looked pensive. He looked away, sucked in a breath and held it for a moment before answering, "Two reasons, Akane: the first is because right now, I can't do any training, so you're gonna do it instead. You need to work on your aerial combat anyhow. The second is because one of these days, **you** are going to have to deal with Shampoo and Kodachi."

Akane moved to sitting on her knees before asking her next question. "What do you mean by that, Ranma? You're not chickening out, are you?"

"NO WAY!" Ranma shouted as he turned to look at her again. The remainder of his retort was cut short by the smile she leveled at him. "I see, you're getting me back for teasing you earlier. Well, it's my day to tease you, Tomboy, so deal with it."

"Aww, you're no fun, Ranma." Came Akane's pouted reply.

"Akane, think about it. What'll happen if I tell Kodachi or Shampoo to take a hike?" Ranma looked serious as he gave Akane the question.

Akane thought about it for a moment. "They'd get upset, but ultimately they'll ignore it and keep after you."

Ranma pounced on her answer with vigor. "Feh, that's only if they don't decide to come after you first! That's why I can't say anything to 'em," He looked away and his voice quieted, "I'm too worried about what they'll try to do to you." suddenly Ranma felt Akane's hands grab the sides of his head and pull him into a fierce kiss. He froze in place as she continued to press herself into him, nervous lips parting to dart her tongue into his paralyzed mouth. Finally finding his motor control, Ranma wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Finally the two separated and stared into each other's eyes for a moment until Akane found her voice. It was breathy and husky as she stared up into his eyes. "Well, I just found **my** second wind. Mind helping me out with that second pattern again?"

Ranma could only nod in assent.

* * *

A half hour later, Ranma called an end to practice for the day and the two cleaned up and headed into the house. Akane washed up while Ranma grabbed the instructions that Doctor Tofu had left. He read them as he listened to Kasumi singing softly to herself as she made a late lunch for everyone. As he read them, Ranma's face lit up as he found a part he particularly liked.

At that moment, Kasumi called from the kitchen. "Akane, lunch is ready! Come downstairs please!"

As Akane descended the stairs, Kasumi brought out a plate laden with sandwiches from the kitchen. She gently placed them on the table and returned to the kitchen to collect the drinks. Akane sat down at the table just as Kasumi returned. The sisters made small talk while Ranma demolished the sandwiches that Kasumi had made. He smacked his lips appreciatively, "Kasumi, those roast beef sandwiches hit the spot! Thanks."

Kasumi smiled as she replied, "You're very welcome Ranma. Doctor Tofu's instructions were very specific as to the types of food you should be eating over the next few days, and I thought that those sandwiches would follow them nicely."

Ranma looked over at Akane and grinned. "Speaking of instructions..." he slid the paper over to her, finger pointing at one of the lines.

Akane looked at the entry Ranma was pointing at. 'Must do the following immediately after leaving the bath: Clean wound with herbal solution C, and hold the enclosed poultice against it for 15 minutes.' Akane began turning red as she contemplated why Ranma was showing **her** of all people that particular part of the instructions.

Kasumi came behind Akane and read the neat handwriting. "Oh my. Isn't it lucky that Akane has already volunteered to take care of you this afternoon, Ranma?" Akane couldn't be sure, but she thought she caught the flickering of amusement behind Kasumi's normally cheery-but-otherwise-expressionless face.

"Yeah, Kasumi. Well, I guess I'd better go take that bath then. See you in a few minutes, Akane." Ranma smirked as he got up from the table and made his way to the bathroom.

"But..." Akane meekly protested as she looked down at the instructions again. Her face turned bright red and she tried to not think of Ranma in the bath.

* * *

Akane knocked loudly on the door to the furo. "Ranma, are you ready for me to come in?" She waited a moment and listened to a variety of splashing sounds and then heard Ranma's reply.

"Yeah, sure Akane, I'm ready."

Akane could almost hear the arrogant smile plastered across his face, but steeled her nerves and opened the door. The sight before her was somewhat disappointing. Ranma was sitting on a small stool, towel wrapped around his waist, with his back to her. _Well, here goes..._ Akane thought to herself, then stepped in and closed the door behind her. She moved behind Ranma and knelt on the floor.

As Akane prepared the medicine, Ranma broke the silence, "Akane, thanks for this. Can I ask you one more little favor?" Without waiting for her assent, Ranma continued, "will you wash my back for me? I'm just curious to know what it would feel like." He turned his head and, noting the shocked look on Akane's face, retracted his question with alacrity. "It's okay! Nevermind, Akane, forget I asked, Ok? It's fine I'll just-"

Akane had recovered from her shock at his request and silenced him with a finger to his lips. "It's ok, Baka. I- I was kind of wondering what it would be like, too..."

Ranma found her light-but-cute blush to be incredibly distracting, so he turned his head around to look at the wall opposite her again as she began to lather up his back. The two sat in silence for a few moments while Akane soaped Ranma's back and gently rubbed the tension from his shoulders. Ranma couldn't stifle his moan.

"Mmm, Akane, that feels good," Ranma sighed, then tensed up as he had a thought. "Maybe I shouldn't say anything like that just in case someone's listening in, huh?" he chuckled nervously, his cheeks threatening to make fire engines jealous of their hue. Behind him, Akane giggled softly.

"It's all right, Pervert. I'm done with that now anyways." Akane was glad Ranma was facing the other way or he'd notice that she also was flushed to a color more matching to her name. (Aka is red in Japanese, if I recall my classes from over a decade ago) With that, she upended a bucket of warm water to rinse him off, and stood, gathering the herbal solution to wash his wound. It came in a strange plastic container that she could squeeze to squirt small amounts of the liquid out at a time, and she took her time trying to be as gentle as she could. Akane could tell that it wasn't very comfortable for Ranma, since he tensed every time she squirted him with it. Finally, after she figured that it was as clean as she could get it, she readied the compress. As she was about to press it to the back of Ranma's head, he interrupted her again.

"Akane, I need to talk to you about some stuff. Can you sit on the floor for a while?" Ranma turned to face her again, and she could tell by the way his voice almost cracked that he was really upset.

"Umm, ok Ranma, I can do that. What about the compress?" She held it near his face to remind him that he still needed to have it.

"Just put it on your lap, Akane." As she sat on the floor, Ranma moved off the stool and lay on the floor, head in her lap positioned directly on top of the compress. Ranma's face was still rather red as he was still unused to the closeness he now felt between them.

Akane was flustered. She felt oddly comfortable and nervous at the same time. _What's he want to talk about? Is it about us? Is it about today? Oh shoot, what am I supposed to do with my hands? They're not holding the compress, so now they're just..._ She stared down to Ranma's face and found herself lost in his eyes. After a minute of keeping eye contact, she couldn't help but glance at the rest of him as well. There were parts of him that were just **begging** her to take notice, even though they were covered by a towel.

"Heh, and you call **me** a pervert, eh, Akane?" Ranma's infectious grin was back, but his eyes just didn't seem to have the same kind of sparkle that his smile did. Then the happy expression died as well. "Akane, I visited Ryoga this morning when I went to see Doctor Tofu."

Akane was shocked back into reality by his words. She felt feelings of shame steal over her and she gave a hurt reply. "Not too good, was he? It's ok though, Doctor Tofu said that he'd probably recover..." Akane could feel the familiar tears start to form in her eyes as she remembered almost killing both Ryoga and then Ranma. It had taken the entire rest of the household to stop her, and she still had destroyed part of the house in her mindless rage.

"Yeah, did he go into details with you on what he'd have to do to make that happen, Akane?" Ranma had closed his eyes to try and ignore the look on Akane's face. He hated to hurt her, but knew that this was information she needed to hear. He cracked one eye open and looked up to see Akane shaking her head in answer. He shut his eyes again and told her the details that had kept his mind occupied for most of the day. As he mentioned what he'd have to give up, Akane gave a startled gasp, then the room fell silent again. Akane's hands found themselves drawn to Ranma's chest as she couldn't think of anything else to do with them, but wanted to feel closer to him and alleviate his misery. He finished filling her in on what had to happen, then cleared his throat. "I'm gonna do it, Akane. Ryoga doesn't deserve to go down like this. He may have made some mistakes, but hey, we have too and now we're starting to fix them. I think he should get that chance too." Akane numbly nodded her agreement, tears trailing down her cheeks and landing with a wet plop onto Ranma's face. His eyes snapped open and he studied her face carefully. _Geez, she really does feel bad about all this. I better say somethin' to help her cheer up_. He thought for a moment, then settled on teasing her lightly.

"Akane, you know you're really not that cute when you're cryin'." Ranma reached up and used a finger to wipe some of the tears off of her cheeks. Akane opened her eyes and glared down at him as he spoke again. "I really hate seein' you cry. I like it when you smile. I know I said it a long time ago, but I wasn't joking back then either: You're really cute when you smile." he gave her one of his infectious smiles and looked up at her face to see it reflect a little of the mirth he'd just tried to instill in their morose conversation.

Akane smiled back at him. _All day he's been teasing me, but when it's important all he wants to do is cheer me up..._ Her smile turned to impish glee as her hands flashed over his bare chest.

"Ow! Hey Akane, gentle with those things!" Ranma sat up quickly and turned to look at her, an mockingly feigned expression of hurt on his face.

"That's for teasing me all day, you Pervert. The poultice has been on long enough, so I'm going to go help Kasumi clean up a bit. The instructions say that you're supposed to get some rest now, so go take a nap or something." She leaned forward, kissed him passionately on the lips, and stood up.

Ranma watched as Akane gathered up the supplies and left the room, throwing him a wink as she did so. When she closed the door, both of them had the same thing running through their minds: _Oh man, it's gonna be tough to wait until we're married!_

* * *

Author's Notes: threw this one together in 2 days. The first half was pretty easy, but the second half fought EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! I'm sure most of you are familiar enough with that feeling. Hope it still did well enough to entertain, especially seeing as how it's the first all-new chapter in the story. Whew! A long chapter, at that! Guess I'm getting more verbose in my later years...


	8. Chapter 8

MY SEMI-TRAINED, OTHERWISE RABID WEASEL HORDE HAS COME BACK. IN ADDITION, THEY HAVE INFORMED ME THAT, SHOULD I TAKE MONETARY RECOMPENSE FOR MY WORK HERE, I TOO AM A VERY LIKELY TARGET OF THEIR WRATH. THAT'S UNDERSTANDABLE, GIVEN THAT RANMA ½ DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. THE CHARACTERS AND ORIGINAL STORYLINE BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND WHATEVER COMPANIES SHE HAS DETERMINED ARE ALLOWED TO HELP HER DISTRIBUTE ACROSS THE WORLD. I DON'T FALL INTO THAT ORGANIZATION ANYWHERE, SO PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME ANY MONEY- IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL. THAT, AND THE WEASELS LOOK HUNGRY.

Apology

Chapter 8

A Ranma1/2 fanfic by

FrictionX42

_italics means the content is thought, not said aloud._

"I'm home!" Nabiki Tendo's voice sang out across the household. Akane and Kasumi were in the kitchen talking, and both noted a sense of urgency in her voice. Akane visibly stifled an angry outburst as she and Kasumi both moved to the living room to meet Nabiki as she changed her footwear to something more suitable for indoor wear.

Nabiki noticed her sisters come into the living room and fixed her younger sibling with a look more akin to a shark viewing its next meal than any loving expression two sisters might normally give each other. "Well hello there, Akane! Word had it that you'd left school early today. The rumors have a few other interesting things to say as well..." Nabiki's needling was rewarded when Akane suddenly couldn't meet her gaze and she swallowed nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about Nabiki. What the school rumor mill has to say is usually wrong anyways, why should I worry about it?" Akane was making an attempt to put up a front, but Nabiki could see right through the act.

"That's why I'm asking you, Akane." Nabiki could almost see yen signs as she looked at her little sister. She was going to go after more information, but Kasumi stopped her.

"Nabiki, I know you just got home, but I could really use some help in the kitchen for a moment..."

Nabiki looked at her sister incredulously. "Akane's been home this whole time, sis. Why ask me?"

Unperturbed, Kasumi continued, "and Akane needs to go check up on Ranma so she has her hands full." She then merely looked at Nabiki. To any unfamiliar bystander, nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Merely an older sister looking at one of her younger sisters. Nabiki could feel her breath catch and the hair on the back of her neck stand up. _What's... Kasumi's not smiling!_

Akane was also feeling particularly uncomfortable. Kasumi's expression closely matched the one she'd levelled at Akane when she'd come home early. Close, except the one she was giving Nabiki now was worse. Almost icy, in Kasumi's own way. "Kasumi's right, I should go make sure the lunkhead is still breathing. You two have fun!" With those words, Akane got to her feet and walked to the stairs. _Ow! Guess I should've stretched more after practice with Ranma earlier, my legs are **killing** me!_ Akane glanced back to see Nabiki and Kasumi enter the kitchen. The normal smile was back on Kasumi's face, but stopped just above her nose. Something about Kasumi's eyes suggested that Nabiki was in for a ... well a talking to, anyhow. Akane couldn't figure out a way to ascribe the term 'stern' to anything Kasumi did. Sighing, she made her way up the stairs and to Ranma's room.

* * *

Akane stopped in front of Ranma's room. She then tentatively knocked. _First time for everything, I suppose._ Akane couldn't remember the last time she'd knocked to come into the room Ranma shared with his dad. Sure, she could remember coming in often enough, but she usually just opened the door and barged in. When there was no reply, Akane fidgeted for a moment, then opened the door and walked in. Ranma was snoring softly on his futon, wearing a tee shirt and boxers. Akane could see this only because he'd kicked the covers off of himself and was laying half on, half off the mattress on the floor. Akane giggled and kneeled near him to cover him again. As she did, she stifled a giggle more girly than she was used to hearing come from her. _Oh boy, he's gonna be fun to sleep next to... wait, he didn't move around much when we fell asleep in my room..._ Blushing furiously, Akane finished straightening the bedding and just as she turned to leave the room, she heard Ranma make a noise.

"Kane, no..." Ranma thrashed again, shoving the blankets down and revealing his tee shirt-clad torso again. His face looked worried, and he clenched his teeth in determination against whatever dream he was having.

Akane returned to his side and stroked his hair to help him relax, as she flushed with shame as she imagined his nightmares. Akane saw herself slamming her mallet into Ranma's unconscious form again and again, stopping only when her family came to drag her away. The vivid imagery continued for a few minutes until Ranma opened his mouth again.

"Kane, no-don't!" Ranma's vocal pitch grew higher as he thrashed more, looking for a way out of his nightmare.

Akane felt her heart plunge as she knew that she was the cause of his suffering. Her fingers traced the section of his head that was stitched together-remnants of her previous work and a reminder of what her temper had almost cost her. Akane felt tears well up in her eyes as she reflected on how nice Ranma had been after he had awoken that morning. _A lot nicer than I would have been, most likely_, she figured. She held Ranma's head steady on his pillow so that he wouldn't knock it against the floor and reopen the stitches.

Unfortunately, that only seemed to make his nightmare worse. "don' hafta tas' it, Kane. 'lready know it's bad!"

Akane's mouth dropped open in shock. Ranma was having a nightmare all right; but it wasn't about the beating she'd given him, it was about her **cooking**! Growling in fury, Akane gripped the side of his head in one hand and balled the other into a fist. "Ranma you JE-" A split second before slamming her fist into his face, Akane stopped. The realization of what she was about do tore all of the energy and anger from her. Here was Ranma, just awoken that morning, just as unable to protect himself as last time, and she was about to pummel him again! Shakily, Akane rose to her feet and left the room, softly closing the door behind her. _It's the duty of a martial artist to protect the weak,_ Akane sulked, caught up in her thoughts. _And he's already injured, by me. Asleep, and I was **still** about to pound him!_

As Akane turned to go to her rooom, she caught a glimpse of Nabiki. Nabiki's face was a bit pale, and she didn't even glance in Akane's direction as she opened the door to her own room and entered. Akane briefly toyed with the idea of going to Nabiki to ask her what had happened, but then she remembered that she had other things to consider, such as her close call with her fist and Ranma's face only seconds before.

As Akane shut herself in her room, she threw herself onto her bed. She could already tell it was going to be a long day, and perhaps a longer night. She spent some time thinking about Ryoga, quite a bit longer thinking about Ranma, and then some time thinking about her anger. She attempted to come to some sort of conclusion, something to help her come to an understanding of what had happened earlier in the week – or at least reduce her guilty feelings. Ranma seemed to have forgiven her for the most part. As Akane struggled with forgiving herself, however, she found that the emotional stress she'd been under compounded with her hard training session with Ranma were wearing on her too much, and she fell fast asleep.

* * *

Ranma awoke early Sunday morning, before even Kasumi rose to begin preparing for the day. He'd been recovering nicely for the last few days, thanks in large part to Akane's help. Things had been odd over the last couple of days. Everyone in the house had been treating him nicely, even his father-even Akane! Ranma chalked it up to them not wanting to aggravate his injury, but he did find it very nice. _Especially Akane._ Ranma smiled. He had visited Doctor Tofu again a few times over the last few days, and the Doctor was impressed by the speed at which Ranma recovered. The doctor had finally deemed him ready to try the operation that would bring Ryoga back. _Today's the day._ Ranma had worried about it so much the last few days that he could hardly wait.

It was better, he considered, to just have it over and done with instead of having to sit and think about the problem over and over again. _Had enough of that with the fiancee 'issues'._ He mused. His fiancees had been strangely absent of late, except for Akane of course. He'd been glad for the break from the others. He found out from Nabiki (who now that he thought of it had also been acting... disturbingly pleasant towards him) that Genma and Soun had actually gone so far as to obtain restraining orders against both Kunos, Shampoo and Ukyo. They hadn't felt that Ryoga had contributed enough to the wedding disaster to warrant one. Ranma's mother was seeing to the family affairs, such as rebuilding thier home with the insurance money they'd recieved. She had insisted that after Ranma and Akane wed, that she and Genma would return to their home so that the two newlyweds could get down to the serious business of baby-making without 'the old folks' getting in the way. Ranma and Akane had both flushed such a bright red that Nabiki had considered wearing suntan oil around them for the rest of the day.

Ranma thought back to the look on Nabiki's face at that moment. She'd been exultant, but then he caught her looking at Kasumi out of the corner of her eyes, and her face dropped into a distictively unhappy frown. When Ranma turned to look at Kasumi, however, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary as Kasumi cheerfully refilled his rice bowl. Ranma tried to push the whole experience out of his thoughts. Too much was on his mind already as it was. Today they'd get Ryoga back. Sure, he'd be a pain, but at least he wouldn't die, and Ranma felt that if he helped with this, then perhaps he and the Lost Boy could patch things up a little. He liked having Ryoga as a rival, but sometimes he felt that he'd really rather have a friend. A real friend, not one mixed with rival, not one mixed with fiancee, not one mixed with **anything**. He just wanted to have someone around who was a friend, and Ranma could think of no better choice than Ryoga. Sure they'd had their differences, but Ranma felt that this was his chance to really overcome them and try to salvage something of a friendship with the boy.

Ranma had briefly discussed the idea of becoming friends with Ryoga after the operation with Akane, as he lay his head in her lap after his bath the day after he'd woken up. She hadn't been against it so much as just become very quiet and withdrawn for the conversation. _Guilt, _Ranma surmised. _She deserves it, but I'm not gonna be the one to get on her case about it. Better change the subject. _Akane hadn't resisted. They'd found the time after Ranma's bath to be an ideal time to discuss things and had found themselves discussing the future more and more over the past couple of days. Ranma still managed to say idiotic things to her from time to time, but for some reason she had been allowing him to stammer out apologies lately, instead of just pounding him into the ground. _Akane's been a lot nicer than usual lately, _Ranma considered, _if I didn't know any better it's like she's actually workin' on controlling her anger. I guess I'll have to really test that out while we train this afternoon. Gotta go deal with Ryoga first, though. Hang in there buddy, I'll save ya._

Ranma dressed and quietly made his way out to the dojo. Today was also the day Doctor Tofu had cleared him to begin training again, as long as he didn't push himself too hard the first few days. Ranma was used to that, as he'd been injured a few times during the ten-year training trip with his pop. He figured he'd start with a couple of warmups and see where things went from there. Ranma toyed with the idea of waking Akane so that they could train together, but figured that he'd rather she not see anything if he should screw up. He was just getting over a head injury after all. He could feel that his balance was still a tiny bit off. Not so much that anyone normal could tell, but for someone who had trained his body to the extent that Ranma had, it was apparent. Ranma smirked at the thought of the last couple of days spent training with Akane. After some cajoling, Soun had been convinced to help her with some of the more advanced parts of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Ranma and Kasumi had talked him into it while Akane was at school on Friday. _I sure am glad that Akane's not as crafty as her sisters are,_ Ranma mused as he went through some basic forms.

* * *

It surprised Ranma for only a moment that the old crone was present. When challenged, Cologne merely laughed and assured Ranma it was only to ensure her son-in-law's safety. The glint in her eyes told Ranma that she knew more than she was letting on, but seeing as that was the way things normally were with the amazon matriarch, he let it lie. Ranma could have sworn for a moment that he'd seen something strongly resembling concern in her eyes as well, but didn't entertain that thought for a moment. He needed to focus everything he could to bring Ryoga back. The actual operation was a lot less painful than Ranma had been expecting. All he had to do was stand in one small circle and emit as much battle aura as he could muster. Ryoga's still form lay in another, but larger, circle not far away. Doctor Tofy stood between them, wearing some ceremonial robes. Ranma was again amazed by the skill he saw in Doctor Tofu and found himself wondering not for the first time how a doctor so young could know so much. Then he put such thoughts outside his mind and focused on the task at hand. He could feel the doctor's touch as he performed some kind of sealing technique, then there was a slight twinge as the doc did **something** to Ranma's battle aura. Ranma's eyes flicked open for a moment and he locked eyes with Cologne. The look on her face was grim, but she nodded her head to him, indicating that everything was going normally. Ranma next felt a disturbing sense of loss, as though there was a hole in him that couldn't be filled. Tofu's hands again flickered over Ranma and he felt significantly more comfortable. In the back of his mind, Ranma knew that there was no going back from that point. Tofu nodded to Cologne, and she hopped off of the stool that she'd been perched on and prodded Ranma out of the room with her staff.

"All right, Son-in-Law, your part in this is over. Go wait in the lobby." The gnarled old lady watched as Tofu knelt next to Ryoga, and then shut the door, leaving Ranma in the hall.

Ranma made his way out to the waiting room where Akane awaited his return. The rest of the family had stayed at the house- not because of any lack of concern for Ranma or Ryoga, but they'd felt that it was the best way to keep Kasumi far away from Doctor Tofu if they waited at home. She looked at him expectantly as he came into the room. He just shrugged and explained, "Doc's workin' on Ryoga now. I gotta stick around and wait."

Akane nodded as Ranma came to sit next to her on the waiting room's small couch. The two sat in silence for several long moments until Ranma slid his hand over to cover Akane's, hand cupping it in his. She gasped softly, and turned to look at him. Ranma was staring straight forward, too nervous to make eye contact. As he felt her stare, Ranma began stammering out an explanation.

"I uh, I'm just-" Ranma babbled before being cut short by Akane's finger on his lips.

"Shush, Ranma." Akane whispered gently, before settling her head on his shoulder and letting loose a content sigh.

Ranma bristled at the unexpectedly increased contact. He spluttered as he began to protest, "A-Akane! Anyone could just walk right in through those doors! What if-" again, Akane interrupted him, this time with a low growl, carefully enunciating each word.

"Ranma, I said **shut. up.**" She returned her head to his shoulder, uncaring what may happen or who may see them. The tiny room was quiet and, aside from her and Ranma, empty. Right then, Akane didn't care about the rest of the world, she just wanted to enjoy this time alone with Ranma.

Ranma wisely did as he was told, and after a moment of tense consideration, slipped an arm around Akane and gently rested his head upon hers, savoring the sweet smell of her hair as he did. Her presense did make him feel better, he had to admit. Within moments, the two were softly snoozing in the quiet Sunday morning calm.

* * *

Ranma awoke with a start. Doctor Tofu was shaking him gently by the shoulder. Akane was already awake, blushing furiously as she avoided eye contact with the young doctor. Tofu settled his gaze on the two teens, "We're all done for the day, and it looks like Ryoga's going to be just fine now. He still hasn't awakened, but I'm not expecting that for another week or so. Once he wakes up, I'll have a better idea of whether or not there's any lasting damages."

Ranma stood and nodded to the doctor. "You're the doc," he said, and headed for the exit. "Let us know when he wakes up and we'll come visit as soon as we can." Akane agreed and after saying their goodbyes the two left the clinic, glad to have good news and to be heading home.

* * *

Once home, Ranma and Akane ate a light lunch during which Ranma told them about the operation that he'd gone through. Several times Genma looked about to say something, but each time was stopped by a menacing glare from Akane. After lunch Akane and Ranma changed clothes and went out to the dojo to spar a little. And Ranma got the biggest surprise he'd had in a very long time.

As he picked himself up from the heap of training tools that they stored there in the dojo, Ranma could see Akane rushing over to help him. For a moment, he couldn't recall why he was even there. Then it came back to him; Akane rushed in and he'd tried to dodge as usual, but he just hadn't moved fast enough. He frowned as the both of them worked to pick up the mess they'd just made. Before continuing, Akane quickly checked Ranma for injury, since his mind appeared to be somewhere else.

Ranma, for his part, was trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Even though he'd been laid up for the last week, he didn't feel like there was anything wrong. Certainly his muscles couldn't have atrophied that badly in only a week! Then Doctor Tofu's warning came floating back to him, and Ranma was no longer confused. The scene played through his mind and Ranma was suddenly very, very worried.

_"I need to give him some of your **ki**, Ranma. Your life essence - a part of your very **soul**. This is a very dangerous process that may do irreparable damage to the both of you if it is not done right. There is also a very good chance of you being weakened by the same amount of ki you give to him – **permanently** weakened."_

_"How much do you think he will need, Doc?" _

_"About a third. Maybe more."_

Akane noticed Ranma's sudden change of mood. "Ranma? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, I'm uh, just fine Akane! I'm just as good as ever! I'm just a little stiff from last week, that's all." Ranma sputtered. Akane didn't look like she was buying it, so Ranma decided to switch tactics. "Doctor Tofu told me that there was a chance that I would be weakened by what I had to give up to Ryoga. Maybe..." Ranma's volume dropped noticeably, "maybe even permanently."

Akane's breath caught in her throat, and she found herself unable to say anything. The two sat in silent contemplation for a while, before Ranma jumped to his feet and started to leave. Before he could make more than two steps, however, Akane reached out and stopped him.

"Ranma wait, we don't know if it's permanent or not yet, do we? I mean, unless you try, you'll never know."

Ranma's reply was cut off by the door opening and Nabiki's voice ringing out, "She's right Ranma, and with this coming up," She held up a small, folded piece of paper upon which was written,'Challenge' in fanciful kanji. "You'd better be ready..."

* * *

Author's notes:

Ugh. This is a lot later than I'd wanted. After a month of dealing with mono, it seems that my writing skills are still not all the way back. That last half of this chapter really did NOT want to be written. Anyhow, I'm still working on everything, I haven't lost interest in this story, no worries about that. I'm actually pretty excited to write the next couple of chapters, they look like they'll be a lot of fun.

I'll rewrite the chapter later, but for now I really just want to get the chapter posted.


	9. Chapter 9

I HUMBLY REQUEST THAT I NOT BE REIMBURSED FOR MY EFFORTS HERE. THE FACT THAT DOING SO WOULD ONLY DO ME MORE HARM THAN GOOD HAS A LOT TO DO WITH THE REQUEST. RANMA ½ BELONGS TO A WONDERFUL WOMAN WHO IN NOT-VERY MANY WAYS RESEMBLES MYSELF. THE PARTS WHERE WE DO RESEMBLE EACH OTHER HAVE TO DO PRIMARILY WITH SPECIES AND NUMBER OF FINGERS AND WHATNOT, THE DIFFERENCES ARE MAINLY IN THAT SHE CAN GET PAID FOR THE THINGS THAT RANMA & CO. DO, AND I CANNOT. NOT WITHOUT MY HORDE OF RABID WEASELS (AND INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW) HAVING SOME SAY IN THE MATTER. OR A LOT OF SAY, ACTUALLY.

Apology Chapter 9

A Ranma ½ Fanfic

by FrictionX42

Akane winced as the punch slammed home into her gut, but forced herself to smile so that her opponent wouldn't go easy on her again. She was happy to be sparring with Ranma, even if it was a lot more painful than she'd expected. The thought that this was Ranma at two-thirds normal sobered her even further. She was no longer angry about ranma never taking her seriously before, she was somewhat glad. A kick barely missed her left temple by less than a centimeter. Akane snapped back to the situation at hand. Now that Ranma was taking her – and her training – seriously, she couldn't afford to think about anything else.

"What'cha thinkin' about, Akane?" Ranma paused for a moment after regaining Akane's attention. He managed to avoid her response – a kick aimed at his groin – by sidestepping, but in doing so moved straight into the path of her punch. He managed to spin with it to lessen the impact, but it still stung. Ranma grimaced as he noted just how much his speed had diminished. It looked like Doctor Tofu's estimation had been about right. _About a third...Jeez, I'm only a little better than Akane now... I only hope that things calm down here for a while. I better focus on this fight and then work on getting back ta my old strength quick!_

The two continued to spar for the next hour or so, Ensuring that Ranma gained a better understanding of what his new limits were like. In the end, both were a little upset; Akane due to the fact that even in his diminished state Ranma could still beat her, even if just barely. Ranma was annoyed because he realized that now he wasn't as certain as to the outcome of the fight that was coming up later that afternoon. The two had decided to skip school that day in order to ensure that Ranma was ready for the fight. It had been a short and interesting talk with their fathers that morning to convince them to let them do so. Akane grimaced as she recalled the two patriarchs go on about how it was a martial artist's duty to take on any challenger, and about how the two of them locked up in the dojo would inevitably lead to the joining of the schools. Akane and Ranma had had to break off the fight at least seven times to tell their respective fathers to go away and leave them alone, twice even bodily removing them from the dojo so they could continue to practice in peace. Kasumi had finally come and redirected Soun and Genma's attention to some snacks and the shogi board.

Neither teen missed the discouraged sighs coming from the other as they stretched from their workout. Ranma caught Akane's eyes at one point and he made sure to flash her a good smile. He was rewarded when she blushed slightly and returned the smile to him. Ranma could feel the color creep up his neck and into his ears as he blushed back at her, thinking about how good Akane looked stretching in front of him. As she twisted one way and then the other, he found his gaze locked on her lithe form. _Aw, man... I liked looking at her before, but now that we're getting' along... Dang it, it's getting hard – difficult! – to focus on the fight today. I better do somethin' else, quick!_

Standing suddenly, Ranma glanced over at Akane. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked away as quickly as she could to avoid Ranma's gaze. He mumbled something about going to take a bath before lunch and headed for the door. He stopped when a small hand closed over his wrist. Turning, Ranma found another small hand rest against his cheek and gently guide his mouth to brush up against Akane's in a brief kiss. It only lasted a moment, but it was electrifying. Ranma wrapped his arms around her waist and the two embraced for a few brief minutes, basking in the warmth of each other. Finally, it was Akane who broke the silence.

"Ranma, thanks for finally treating me like a real sparring partner this time. It felt really good." Akane murmured into Ranma's chest as he held her close, the scent of his recent workout was nearly overpowering, but Akane didn't want to leave. She could hear Ranma's heartbeat quicken as she hugged him tightly.

Ranma, for his part, was desperately trying to think of anything BUT Akane pressed up against him. It was pleasant enough, but Ranma was already worried about his ability to handle much more of Akane being cuddly without having some serious control issues. While their restpective fathers would be overjoyed, Ranma still felt that it would be prudent to wait for a much later time. _Still, it really does feel good here with her hands on my chest and my arms around her waist and her- … um, her... _Ranma stiffened (er, make that **froze**, actually... dang.) as he realized exactly what the two bulges were that were pressing into his abdomen were. Unused to intimate female contact that he actually wanted, Ranma began to panic. His hands began to clench uncontrollably and his mouth moved to speak, but no words escaped.

Akane felt Ranma's reaction, and was unsure of her own reaction at first. There was certainly a part of her that was reciprocating Ranma's unvoiced desires, but Akane's better judgement squashed it quickly. It didn't go down without a fight, though. A different part of Akane had a very appropriate idea, however, and it was on that that Akane decided to act.

Ranma's only warning was when Akane looked up into his face and shot him an impish grin as she tightened her grip on the front of his gi. Then she dropped down onto her back and pulled him along with her. Just as he was worried that the two of them were going to get into an extremely compromising position(Nabiki and the fathers would have been proud), Ranma felt Akane's foot plant firmly in his stomach, and she used the momentum built to propel him bodily through the air and into the corner where they stored various training implements. A crash and the sound of a metal bucket overturning later, a very sodden redheaded girl glared up at Akane from the floor where she lay.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?" Ranma demanded.

Still grinning, Akane answered, "It's Anything Goes, right? Shouldn't you have been expecting it? Besides," Akane's voice dropped in volume as her blush deepened and her gaze left Ranma's, "you seemed like you needed an opportunity to cool off a bit."

Ranma got to her feet swiftly, intending to protest her innocence, but managed to stop just before getting too defensive, "I... I guess you're right, Akane. Sorry about that." Ranma sought out Akane's eyes with her own and gave her a sheepish smile. "Forgive me?"

Akane returned the petulant redhead's smile with one of her own. "I guess. You certainly weren't the only one who needed a cooling down!"

Ranma's brain immediately short-circuited. _Akane's havin' those thoughts about ME too?_ As Ranma looked at her, she suddenly realized that she could make out some of the signs of Akane's arousal. Her cheeks were slightly pink, and her breath came a tiny bit more ragged than she really needed, given her fitness level. As Ranma's gaze shifted a little lower she noted that with the angle that she was at she could see into Akane's gi, to note that on her exercise bra there was a tiny, prominent bulge. Ranma felt most of the blood in her body shoot up into her face, as she turned a brilliant crimson. She felt her own body react, and the interior of her shirt, slick with the perspiration from exercising earlier, rubbed uncomfortably against now very sensitive parts.

Akane noted the change in Ranma's facial coloration, and followed the sometimes-girl's gaze to where it was resting steadily on her chest. Then she realized that not only was Ranma staring at her breasts, but also that the angle allowed her gaze to note what state they were in, even if covered by her exercise bra! She gasped and covered her chest with her hands, then stalked over to where Ranma was only beginning to regain control over his mental faculties. Ranma shut her eyes, having long ago learned to expect some rather harsh treatment every time Akane caught him doing anything she could misinterperet as even the slightest bit perverted. Looking down at the petite redhead's face, with her eyes screwed shut as tight as Ranma could manage, Akane had to bite her tongue to keep from giggling. Instead, she jabbed her forefinger into Ranma's forehead. Ranma, having expected a much heavier hit, snapped her eyes open in disbelief. She was about to question Akane's actions when Akane burst out laughing.

Ranma once again turned a shade of crimson. This time it wasn't so much from embarrasment as from annoyance, but Ranma noted that it have been happening far too often lately one way or the other. She opened her mouth to protest, but Akane cut her off with a finger to her lips.

"It's no big deal Ranma, I won't hit you. THIS time..." Akane said to Ranma in a saucy tone of voice. The moment Akane removed her finger from Ranma's pert lips, she replaced it with her own, pressing her face to her fiance's in a fiery smooch. _That's odd, Ranma's lips feel different right now. I wonder why she's not kissing me back? Why isn't she... she... SHE?_

Akane immediately broke the kiss and pulled herself away from Ranma's face. Steeling herself the best she could muster, she could only stammer, "I uh, I-I think I hear Kasumi calling us in for lunch!" With that, Akane turned and walked quickly from the dojo, her mind racing with thoughts she could not control.

A look into Ranma's mind at that point reveals a thought process that went something along these lines:

_…_

_…_

_…_

_!_

_…_

_…_

_!_

_…_

_?_

_…_

_!-_

_lunch?_

* * *

Author's Notes:

*sighs* It is Ranma, after all...

Dang, after so long not updating, and then the best I can give you is a REALLY short chapter like this. Half of what I normally strive for. Sorry everyone. If you read my profile, where I often give updates to whatever's going on in my life, you'd know that RL's been kicking my in the pants lately. And not the back seat of the pants, either. Add to that the fact that this story only gets written when I feel like I can meet my standards for it- which in this case I did NOT- but I wanted to give an update anyhow. As for the content being... different... from my normal fare, let's just say that I now have a very upset Ranma and Akane sitting in the back of my mind, pouting that I didn't make it significantly STRONGER! And those two don't just **sit** and pout. No, pouting for them is a very ACTIVE, PARTICIPATORY activity that's very difficult to avoid if you are the one they are pouting at. I made a promise a long time ago, when I first started writing these stories, that none of them would contain lemon scenes. It is getting exceedingly difficult to live up to that [promise, but I finally had the breakthrough I needed to drive the story on for the moment. No worries, the next few scenes are burning to be written right now, but I felt that this would be a good place to end the chapter, on an interesting- and quite amusing, to me- note.

Sorry to those of you who have been chomping at the bit to learn who sent the challenge letter, you'll have to wait a little bit longer. I'd originally intended to get all the way to the start of the fight in this chapter, but those two *gestures in frustration at the two overpowered martial-artist teens* apparently wanted a little more time together. I put it down to teenage hormones finally getting to those two. It's about time.

In addition to all of my other excuses, I also have had the ideas for not just one, but TWO Naruto (which I also don't own) fanfics. Don't expect to see them anytime soon, as they are interesting, but have yet to batter me into submission as a way of forcing me to write them. Perhaps after I complete EGMA, or something.

For those wanting the lemon, I MAY write it after all, but not here. There's a spot that's much better in the next chapter for it, and I'll make clear which portion to replace with the more citrus-powered version (that I may or may not write later) in that. Incidentally, now that I think of it, FFnet doesn't allow lemons anyhow, so I suppose I'll have to find a different place to post. I suppose that if I do write it I'll look into the submission requirements for the Ranma ½ Lemon Stories Archive. Go ahead, add them to the disclaimer now, as I don't own them or am affiliated with them in any way as of this writing.


	10. Chapter 10

I HAVE BEEN BEHAVING! I AM NOT TAKING CREDIT FOR ANYTHING THAT I HAVE NOT COME UP WITH ON MY OWN! IN THE CASE OF THIS STORY, THAT MEANS THAT THE CHARACTERS AND LOCATIONS DESCRIBED ALL BELONG TO RUMIKO TAKAHASHI AND I'M ONLY BORROWING THEM FOR A LITTLE WHILE! THE PLOT MAY BE MINE BUT THAT IS NO EXCUSE FOR ME TO TRY TO MAKE ANY MONEY ON THIS! NOW PLEASE MAKE THE RABID WEASELS GO AWAY!

Apology Chapter 10

A Ranma ½ fanfic by

FrictionX42

Akane and the rest of the family (minus Nabiki, who was at school and setting odds on the fight that afternoon) were seated around the lunch table when female-Ranma finally made her way in. To Akane's astonishment, she looked no different than usual, with an arrogant gait and a ravenous gleam in her eye as she surveyed Kasumi's efforts to provide a meal that would assure Ranma's victory. With how many fights Ranma got into, and how long she'd been cooking for martial artists before Ranma had come to stay with the Tendos, Kasumi really knew what she was doing and the repast was truly something to behold. Visibly heartened by the meal spread before him, Ranma-chan plopped down next to her father and began eating at the normal rate for a Saotome: FAST.

In contrast, Akane was only picking at her food, her mind on other things, such as the kiss she and girl-type-Ranma had just shared out in the dojo. A kiss that Akane herself had initiated. The thoughts racing through her mind had so engrossed Akane's attention that she didn't hear her father's request that she pass him another napkin. A few more quiet repeats and it finally pierced the haze Akane had built around her mind.

"Sorry Dad, what was that?"

"Akane, what's gotten into you today? You seem distracted. Did something happen out in the dojo?" At Soun's query, Akane and Ranma both immediately froze in place.

Picking up on the two teenaged martial artist's panic, Genma did a little digging of his own. "What'd you do to Akane, boy? Tell us, Ranma!"

Ranma's retort rose in his throat before she could stop herself, "Nothin' happened, old man! Why don't you just leave me alone!" Ranma glared furiously at Genma in an effort to intimidate her father.

Genma was, unfortunately for Ranma, entirely too aware of Ranma's recent decrease in fighting ability, and was not fazed in the least. "What's the matter, boy? Too ashamed to admit it that you lost to a girl?"

At this accusation, Ranma-chan's eyes snapped up to meet her father's. Her voice formed a low growl as she spat her reply, "I'd **never** lose to an uncoordinated, uncute, talentless brick of a tomboy like her! She moves like mud and she's twice as dumb! Why I could beat her with both hands and one **foot** tied behind my back!"

Only Kasumi was close enough to hear the sharp intake of breath that Ranma-chan's insult drew from Akane. The older sister watched as her youngest sibling's face darkened and the veins in her forehead became visibly engorged. Akane began to rise from her seat, her mallet already halfway to ready when she recalled the last time she'd let her anger get the best of her. Before Akane could do anything, however, Genma had grabbed the front of Ranma's shirt and followed up with a throw that splashed Ranma-chan directly into the koi pond. Akane slumped back to her seated position, seething as she concentrated on using her chopsticks in as precise a manner as possible so that in her rage she wouldn't break them. As upset at Ranma as she was at the moment, they didn't need any bad omens. The fight was going to be questionable enough as it was.

Ranma-chan spluttered to the surface of the koi pond just in time to see Genma polish off the rest of the food from her plate. Smirking at Ranma, Genma patted his fat belly and he politely asked Kasumi to refill his rice bowl. It was not lost on Ranma that the bowl Genma presented to Kasumi to be refilled was her own. With a scathing glare, Ranma-chan pointedly stomped upstairs. She quickly grabbed the necessary items for a good bath, and left via the window. Deciding to avoid the rest of the family, Ranma-chan slipped into the bathroom unnoticed and quietly began to set up for the bath that would return her true gender along with, she hoped, some amount of control over her emotions. There was a challenge that afternoon, after all.

The meal in the family room, while tense, had no further interruptions. Soun merely dismissed the activities of his more larcenous comrade as part of the rigors of training, and Kasumi was too busy keeping up with Genma to say very much, and Genma was trying to outpace Kasumi's efforts to keep his plate and rice bowl full. Akane, for her part, ate very slowly and meticulously, trying to regain her composure before she repeated her actions of scarcely a week ago and nearly killed her aggravating fiancee. As she finished the food that had been placed before her, she tersely excused herself from the table. She trudged upstairs and gathered her bath supplies, anxious to get the sweat and grime from that morning's intense training session off of her body.

Ranma-chan soaked luxuriously in the bath, enjoying the heated water and allowing it to draw all of the hostility and negative feelings away. A long hot bath was the perfect thing for him at the moment; allowing him to calm down and go over battle strategies. He wasn't used to thinking about fighting, he usually just did it. He went over the moves he had in his mind, selecting them based on how useful they were likely to be in his weakened condition. Mouko Takabisha was right out, since it was based on his overwhelming confidence. He was certain he could work his way back to it, but for the moment, confidence was no longer an unlimited commodity. Chestnut fist would be reduced in both speed and power, but he was certain he retained the use of it. His Hiryuu Shoten Ha would still be as powerful as ever, since that depended entirely upon the victim to power it, but still, Ranma didn't feel like taking chances, and he figured he could use every bit of edge he could get. This wasn't a fight he wanted to lose. Of course, Ranma never wanted to lose. Thinking back on it, there wasn't a fight he had ever lost, except one. He smiled at the memory. That one loss- apologizing to Akane- had ultimately ended in a win for him!

"Heh, even when I lose, I still win!" Ranma relished in the memories of that night. The look on her face, holding her in his arms, that kiss! Ranma grinned. He'd decided that night that he really liked kissing Akane. Thinking about kissing Akane brought to mind the situation earlier in the dojo. Akane had been so warm, pressed up against him. Her lips had felt like velvet, her body firm yet pliable in his hands. The feelings of her pressed up against him in the dojo assailed his senses until in his mind's eye he could picture himself quickly untying her belt and helping her to shrug off her gi top...

Ranma sat up straight and spluttered. "Woah now! What was that all about?" he sighed. "I guess I'm getting a little too relaxed," Ranma winced, noting that his last statement was not altogether true. "Guess I'd better get out now. Can't concentrate on getting ready for the fight if all I can think about is Akane..."

Ranma rose from the water and just as he was stepping out of the tub, the door slid open. As Ranma's foot came down on the side of the tub, he turned to face the door. Ranma stopped, unable to coax any further movement from his body whatsoever as his eyes beheld the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Akane scowled as she approached the bath. Here she'd been almost ready to forgive Ranma for the... incident in the dojo, and then he had to go and insult her again! The nerve of that jerk! Akane could feel the anger rise from her like a hot furnace. As she reached the dressing room, she began to take deep breaths like Kasumi had coached her to do while Ranma was convalescing from the last time Akane's temper got the best of her. She was starting to feel stifled, like she had no outlet for her frustrations. Since she wasn't pounding on Ranma for every percieved slight, she was starting to feel like she might explode at someone else and really hurt them. She sighed at the memory of Ranma unconcious. Even doctor Tofu had been upset with her. She'd promised again to do her best to keep her temper in check. It had only been a few days so far, but with the help of Kasumi and the doctor, she'd found some breathing exercises helped her to control herself.

Akane finished undressing and tossed her clothing into the laundry hamper, mind so occupied that she remained completely unaware of A bright red, chinese-style shirt that lay on top. As Akane calmed, she revisited the conversation in her mind. She and Ranma had agreed to keep their newfound closeness hidden from the family, and Akane had to admit Ranma was probably doing a better job of it than she was. She wasn't sure he was doing it on purpose, but still... She sighed again. Going over the dojo situation again in her mind, she was able to analyze it a bit more objectively. _I guess it wasn't really Ranma's fault after all. I was the one who started the kiss-I was the one that forgot that he __was a girl at the time, not him._

Anger deflated, Akane picked up a towel and approached the door to the bath. _I'll go get him to apologize after I'm done with my bath, _She decided. _He's been pretty good at doing it lately, and we've really been getting a__long. I'd hate to have anything happen to ruin that..._ And with that thought tugging the corners of her mouth into a bemused smile, Akane slid open the door to the bath.

The two stared at each other for a moment, both standing stock still in astonished bewilderment. Akane's eyes widened as she took good long look at her fiancee. Ranma, for his part, was appreciating the view for just a moment, until the likely consequences of this situation dawned on him. As Ranma mentally prepared to truly be sent to the afterlife this time, his prayer that Kami-sama would forgive him his most grievous errors was cut short by a sound he hadn't expected. Akane had begun to giggle. Ranma watched in further shock as her giggles made way for stronger laughter, his consternation growing. He slid into the water so as to protect what was left of his dignity while Akane ducked back behind the door in order to hide her nudity, still trying to contain her mirth.

Ranma gritted his teeth. _Laughing at me! She's __**laughing**__ at me! W__hat the heck's she doin' that for? What's wrong with- _Ranma's inner monologue was cut short by a towel suddenly draping itself over his face. Akane had thrown it from the doorway, apparently.

"Wrap that around your waist, Ranma. I'm coming in."

At her statement, Ranma felt as if the bottom of the tub had dropped from beneath him. His mind went blank, his mouth went dry, his pulse began to pound in his ears, and his breath quickened. His fingers twitched around the towel as his mind worked feverishly to grasp the situation. Akane was **willingly** going to enter the bath with him. He stood up and swirled the towel around his waist, securing it at his side by tucking the end into itself. His hands felt as though they were on autopilot as he did so, a feeling that Ranma was introspectively very grateful for as his mind was entirely too overloaded to recall how to do it properly. He felt as though his mind was going a million miles an hour and dragging him along for the ride. Towel firmly in place, Ranma sank back down into the heated water. He looked up just in time to see Akane, a reddish hue coloring her cheeks, enter the bathing area. She was wrapped from chest to mid-thigh in a towel and the ensemble was showing off a lot of leg. Ranma decided instantly that even if she did kill him for this, then it was worth it. Akane had a pair of very nice legs. She strode into the room with a forced smile on her face, and a slight shake in her knees. Ranma could tell that she was really nervous. Her face was flushed bright red, and her eyes darted from Ranma to the bath water, to the floor and back again. _Still looks really cute,_ Ranma smiled at her, hoping that it wasn't **too** obvious that he was enjoying the view.

As Akane entered the water, she playfully slugged him in the shoulder. She grinned as Ranma faked a horrible injury. "That's what you get for leering at me in the nude, you letch!"

Ranma rose to the bait, "Hold it, **you** walked in on **me**!" As the words left his lips, Ranma realized that all of this had happened before, on his first day at the Tendo dojo. The memory sent him reeling for a moment. It seemed a lifetime ago, that he and Akane got into their very first fight.

"You remembered..." Akane breathed. "will wonders never cease?" she slid over to sit next to Ranma, shoving herself into the crook of his arm so that he draped it over her shoulders. Ranma was rankled at her insinuation, but figured that since he preferred her current position to most any other, he'd let it slide. It also annoyed him that he hadn't, in fact, remembered until after he'd spoken the same line, but he didn't want to let Akane know that, so he remained silent. Oblivious to his annoyance, she continued, "That's what I was laughing about. You were in the **exact** same position!" Testing him, she continued to reminisce, "It's different when a girl looks at a boy!"

Ranma felt relieved. Now that he knew that she wasn't laughing at him, he could relax a little. He chuckled as Akane continued reciting her memories of that fateful night. He couldn't for the life of him recall what had happened next, so he did what came naturally- he improvised. It always worked in fights, after all.

(Author's Note: It is at this point that my chapter diverges. I will post a link to the non-suitable-for-posting-here chapter when I get it written. When it is, if you want you can replace everything within the limits of the repeated asterisks (*) with the contents of that work.)

"Well, Akane, you looked. Did you like what you saw?" Ranma's grin widened.

That wasn't the line, but Akane could tell that Ranma was teasing her again. She closed her eyes and recalled the image of Ranma in the bath moments earlier. Certainly, she'd seen him without his shirt on frequently over the last few days, as she had been coming in after his baths to clean his wound with doctor Tofu's medicine. On each of those occasions, however, he'd been out of the bath for a few moments, dried off already, and always covered. Even with the two of them getting closer as they had been, she'd hardly really **looked** at him before. Certainly, he had an attractive face, a cute ponytail, and eyes that she could lose herself in as long as nobody was around to witness, but she'd always kind of overlooked the rest of him. Tonight, he'd been completely exposed, and water had coursed in rivulets down his well-muscled torso, gleaming in wet trails that outlined the shapely muscles in his chest. His washboard abs stood mute proof of his ridiculous training regimen. His shoulders were incredibly firm, and yet still comfortable for her to rest her head against. Ranma was **really** hot, she determined. Every part of him, from his face and eyes to his broad back and square shoulders, to his finely toned abdomen and his pe-

"Pectorals!" Akane's cry brought her out of her own reverie. Ranma opened his eyes and regarded her curiously.

"What was that, Akane? His gaze fell upon her, questioningly.

"Umm, I uh, I meant to say that I really like your... pectorals." Akane murmured, sounding significantly less believable than she'd intended to. "They're really, really nice." As she spoke, she moved one hand up to rest on the named muscle group, fingers slightly gliding over his skin as she caressed him. _As nice to __touch as they are to look at,_ Akane mused. Akane's thoughts trailed off as she noted an anguished look on Ranma's face. "What is it, Ranma, what's wrong?"

Ranma was having trouble keeping a straight face. Akane had no clue how much what she was doing with herfingers **tickled**! _Why's it always her that tickles me?_ Ranma considered. _And it was my chest last time too. Hmm, maybe she really __**was**__ telling the truth. _Ranma was rapidly losing what little breath he'd captured earlier when Akane suddenly stopped. He could tell she didn't mean to tickle him by the look of concern that crossed her face as she asked him what was wrong, but Ranma was still glad she'd stopped and let him catch a breath. "...Tickled..." Ranma muttered out of the corner of his mouth, unable to look Akane in the eyes.

Akane merely replied "And here I was trying to go and do something nice for you, too!" She then 'hrmphed' and turned away from him, hiding her growing blush as her thoughts strayed to other ways she could be nice to him.

As she turned from him, Ranma decided that retribution would be his. Ranma wrapped his strong arms around her from behind, slipping his arms underneath hers and crossing over her stomach. His fingers dug at the areas at her sides just below the ribcage, brushing against the sensitive skin through her towel. His breath sounded hotly in her ear, "Then let me return the favor, Akane!"

"Eek! Ha-ha, stop Ranma!" Akane writhed against the assault, giggling madly as Ranma mercilessly tickled her sides. A small, objective part of her dimly noted that despite his onslaught of her senses, she still felt perfectly safe with him. It excited her that he had his hands on her like that, but still she struggled gamely to escape his grasp. She attempted to wrench herself from his grasp, leaping out of the tub as she did so.

Ranma did his best to hold on to her slim waist. It was interesting, he noted, the way she moved against him when he did this. He'd have to try it more often. Suddenly he realized that she was about to leap out of his grasp, and that if he attempted to hold on she would likely leave her towel, and her modesty, behind. Wistfully, he relinquished his grasp on her, allowing the towel-clad girl to escape his embrace. He followed her out of the tub, however, determined not to allow her to fully escape. He was laughing too, at this point, as the two of them played an odd game of cat and mouse.

Before long, he had her backed into a corner. Grinning ferally, he leapt at her. As she spun to escape his charge, her towel became unravelled and began to fall. Ranma noted this and did his best to change course at the last second. He was almost successful, except that as he twisted, his shoulder struck something hard and redirected him right back towards her. Pain blossomed through the shoulder, causing Ranma to gasp in the sudden pain. A split second later, he and Akane landed in a jumbled mess of arms, legs, and towels. To add insult to injury, the object Ranma had collided with happened to be the cold shower control, and the two were rapidly doused in frigid water.

Ranma-chan sighed as she reached up to turn off the shower spray. The cool water had brought some semblance of control back to her, and she paused to take stock in her surroundings. In the bathroom; check. Currently a redhead; check. Lost the towel due to size change of transformation; check. Shoulder hurt like hell; check. Rather damp and slightly disappointed; check. Straddling a nude Akane; che- ... ...

…

…

…

_!_

…

…

_!_

…

_?_

"Ranma, I'd like to get up now." Akane's voice was small and pleading. The look on her face was one of mixed confusion, hurt, and disappointment. None of which put Ranma at ease.

Girl-type-Ranma looked down at the girl beneath her and scrambled to comply without doing anything to further exacerbate an already-terminally-embarrassing situation. "Sure thing, Akane." She mumbled as she moved.

Akane drew her towel around herself again and hurried out to the changing room. She dressed quickly, wanting to put some distance between herself and Ranma so that she could think. First the kiss in the dojo, then Ranma's comments at lunch, then their actions in the bath... It was all whirling around in her head like a storm that was growing and whipping thoughts and concepts about. She was confused, and a little disappointed, and a little bit hurt.

Ranma flicked aside her red pigtail as she watched Akane flee from the room. She sighed and crossed to the tub, which was still full of warm water from earlier, and restored her true gender. Once masculinity was restored, Ranma considered soaking for a few more minutes, knowing that with the fight later it was likely to be the only peace and quiet he would have for a few more hours. _On the other hand, I've been sittin' on my butt for days now, and I'll be takin' another bath when I get home after the fight anyways… Dammit! What the heck's gotten into Akane now? I sure didn't __**ask**__ her ta join me in here. It was pretty nice though, up until…_ Ranma's shoulder throbbed again and he turned to scowl at the shower handle.

He sighed and got out of the bath, moving into the dressing room to recover the clean clothes he'd placed there earlier. As he dressed, he noted that the dirty clothes hamper was empty. He stared at it in shock for a few moments as he realized that when Akane left, she'd left the door to the bathing area open. If someone had come in to get the dirty clothes after Akane had left, Ranma would have seen them. In other words, whoever had emptied it had done so after Akane had joined him in the bath, but before she'd left him there. So they'd come in and and grabbed the laundry while he and Akane were in the middle of… And neither he nor Akane had been overly quiet…

_Oh crap…_

Author's Notes:

As for where the last two chapters came from... Let's just say that I recall quite clearly how it felt when I was Ranma and Akane's age, and the raging hormones that went with it. Add to that the fact that I've been away from my wife for the last 8 months, except for a one-month visit starting just six hours after she gave birth to my daughter. Have to take time to heal from that, you know. Things have been... difficult. I am, however, proud to say that I have not lost control of myself. I've stayed faithful and have tried to make the best of things, using my frustration as inspiration for these chapters. It probably explains why there's been a little chibi-Ranma and Akane sitting in the back of my mind, whispering terribly naughty things that they want me to write. I've resisted for the most part, but they are remarkably persistent. And aggressive. Yes, both of them are frightfully aggressive. But they're not writing this. I am. So there!

Of course, they have managed to hijack my storyline for TWO chapters now... The fight was supposed to start at the end of chapter 9! Heck, according to my notes(which are now horribly out of sequence), Ryoga should be waking up soon! He'll just have to sleep a little longer I suppose. These were days that originally were just going to get skipped over anyhow, so it doesn't hurt to flesh them out a bit. It's good to build on the budding relationship between Ranma and Akane. It's what the series is based on, after all.

On the plus side, I get to finally be together with my family on a more permanent basis in about 17 hours after finishing this chapter. For that reason, it's not going under the many many proofreads that I normally put my chapters through, in an effort to get it posted before I become to busy to do so. It may be the last one you see out of me for a while, but hopefully by the next one, I'll have gotten some things out of my system. *grins*

One way or another, I had fun writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'll get to the fight next chapter if it kills me, I swear!


End file.
